Chronicles of the Apocalypse: Condemnation

Deeper into the Shallows, a group of survivors are sitting around including a bearded Merritt just as the A.O.W tank drives up on them. Kyle, Jake, Shawn, James and Barnes exit the tank.

Kyle: Merritt?

Merritt: Kyle, is that you? Jeez, son...you grew some hair. You look different with your head fully grown.

Kyle: and you with your beard....what are you doing down here?

Merritt: Well, shit, after you and those two other dipshits destroyed my gas station and Oden's outpost was overrun, we thought the surface was too dangerous. Speaking of those two dipshits...they alive?

Kyle: Dante and Killen....no...they both died four years ago.

Merritt: sorry to hear that.

Jake: So, you guys thought underground, where these things are coming from, you thought it'd be safer down here?

Merritt: Nowhere is, son. Not anymore. We were good here for a few months as long you stayed off the roads leading to the Hive, but now those damn monsters are showing up where they didn't before. Killing people, kidnapping them, torturing them. It's horrible.

Kyle: "The Hive"?

Merritt: Yeah, the Hive. What? You need to scoop up all that wax out of your ears, kid? The Hive is where those things come from.

Kyle and Jake look at each other and nod.

Jake: Best lead we have yet.

Kyle: Yeah....we definitely need to check this out.

Jake: What about them? We can't take them with us.

Kyle turns to Merritt.

Kyle: Hey, old man. How do we get there from here?

Merritt: You'll have to cross the lake, but no one cross those lakes except those monsters in armor. The water's not safe.

Kyle: Is anywhere, right? 

Kyle turns to Shawn and James.

Kyle: Okay, James, Shawn, I want you to take these people up to the surface. Jake, Barnes and I will continue on foot.

Barnes: (quietly) Fuck!

James: What? But they-

Kyle: They'll die if you don't, James. You and Shawn go back to Midtown Manhattan once you've dropped them off. You guys have helped us enough. Go back home to Cassandra, James. She needs you.

James: But Kyle-

Shawn: James, this guy led an army of Blood Hogs and Raiders to take out Kronos. I think he can handle it. C'mon, man. Let's bounce.

Kyle: Merritt, gather everyone else and go with them. They'll take you to safety.

Merritt: Hold up! Does this mean we have to fight with you folks now?

Kyle: I didn't say that, man, but you can't stay here. It's dangerous.

Merritt walks to the tank as Jake stops him.

Jake: Hey, wait....

Jake takes out photograph of himself and Keera and presents it to Merritt.

Jake: You ever seen this woman before? Her name's Keera.

Merritt: Oh, what a dish. She your wife, son?

Jake: Yeah.

Merritt: Oh, you married a fine young woman there, my boy.....she does look familiar. I think she was one of the other groups that was down here. Steven's group....(sighs) but I think Steven and the others....they were captured...a few killed.

Jake: Oh, god.

Kyle: The ones who were captured? They're the ones who were taken to the Hive.

Merritt: I bet...or the slave camps along the way.

Kyle: How do we find the prisoners?

Merritt: When you get to the highway, near the waterfall ridge, there's a path that'll get you straight there.

Jake: Thanks, old man.

Merritt: Don't know if it'll do you any good. Unless you're a monster like them, you're fucked.

Barnes approaches Kyle and Jake.

Barnes: We ready?

Kyle: Yeah...

James approaches Kyle.

Jake: Hey, Kyle. What if the beacon's broken...or it doesn't work.

A short pause.

Kyle: Then like all the other cities these monsters have sunken, Midtown Manhattan will sink...and every man will be slaughtered...and every child and women including my wife and your girlfriend will be slaves....tortured....I'm not willing to let that happen....are you?

James nods, before he walks back to the A.O.W tank. Shawn drives the A.O.W. tank out of the Shallows along with James, Merritt and the other survivors.

Merritt: There wouldn't happen to be a toilet in this thing, would there?

Kyle, Jake and Barnes make their way into the Shallows.

Jake: This is fucking crazy! I swear to God if Keera's down here and-

Kyle: It's going to be alright, Jake.

Jake: Yeah, I-I hope so...

Barnes: will it?

Kyle and Jake give Barnes a look.

Barnes: Uh...sorry...

Kyle, Jake and Barnes travel down further and are confronted by a Condemned Guard with an advanced gun that shoots an explosive arrow called a Gorgon.

Jake: Shit! Look out!

Kyle: What do we call those things?

Barnes: Seeing as how it has an arrow like weapon, we could call it a Gorgon.

Kyle: Name it later! Just kill it!

Kyle, Jake and Barnes open fire on the Gorgon Guard and manage to kill it. The three then continue moving through the Shallow entrance, before reaching the ruins. Eventually, the Condemned forces attack in a fight with a boat in the distance with Condemned armed and a gun turret.

Jake: Those things have boats?

Barnes: Fuck! Those are gun boats! Get down!

Jake: So, Barnes, how does it feel fighting your own men? Did they miss you?

Kyle: Jake...give it a rest.

Kyle, Jake and Barnes take cover as one of the Condemned open fire. After taking out the Condemned on land, Kyle manages to use the advanced gun with an arrow to shoot an explosive arrow into the tank of the gunboat, creating an explosion and causing it to crash, creating a bridge for Kyle, Jake and Barnes to cross. Kyle, Jake and Barnes manage to reach the pier, but notice the small boat is flooded.

Kyle: Well, crap.

Jake: We're not getting across in that.

Barnes: No kidding. You got any other ideas?

Kyle: Well, we could-

Kyle notices a gun boat in the distance.

Kyle: Look out!

The gun boat rams into the pier, causing the lower end that Kyle, Jake and Barnes are standing on to separate and drift into across the lake.

Jake: Hold on!

Kyle: Just hold your ground for now!

Kyle, Jake and Barnes hold off the attacking gun boats. After a short fight, the Condemned gun boats fall back.

Jake: Why'd they just drop off? They afraid of the radioactive fluid fumes in the air?

Kyle: Could be that....or something else. You never know.

The separate pier drifts into the radioactive fluid fumes.

Jake: Hey, Kyle. What happens if we breathe this shit in? Won't it kill us?

Kyle: Fingers crossed it doesn't.

Barnes, as he sniffs in the radioactive fluid fumes, begins to suddenly get weak and falls to his knees, breathing at a panicking and accelerated rate with his veins becoming exposed.

Kyle: Barnes! Hey! Barnes!

Kyle and Jake tend to Barnes.

Jake: What's happening?

After passing through the fumes, Barnes suddenly returns to his regular healthy condition, before standing to his feet. Barnes coughs.

Barnes: I'm good....I'm good.

Jake: What was that?

Barnes: It's the King Cobra Serum in my blood....it doesn't fuse well with the radioactive fluid....

Barnes groans.

Barnes: If I absorb too much or get a lethal dose....it will kill me....probably shouldn't be telling you this.

Jake: Why not?

Barnes: Because you guys don't trust me....and I don't trust you.

Barnes walks up to the end of the pier, before Kyle walks up to him.

Kyle: Why'd you do it?

Barnes: Do what?

Kyle: Join Zeus Corps. Why?

Barnes: Same story as you. Rick and I were on our own....and then Ryder saw something in us...recruited us to the cause....

Kyle: And which cause was that?

Barnes: To make the world a better place....

Kyle: Have you achieved the goal of the cause yet?

Barnes scoffs, before looking back at Jake.

Barnes: You know; you boys are lucky.

Kyle: How's that?

Barnes: You two have wives. Least yours is at home, wondering and worried about you.....Jake...if his wife is down where, don't it'll be in one piece.....you don't know either, do you?

A short pause.

Kyle: If Keera is alive and down here, I don't think it will be one piece....but I'm not going to tell him that and crush his hopes.

Barnes: Why? Because that's your brother?

Kyle: he's lost a lot.

A short pause.

Barnes: Let me ask you something, Kyle....did Nathan disapprove of you and Sarah being together? Former Zeus Corps soldier with a girl like her? I'd freak out, too.

Kyle: What do you-

Barnes: I'm just saying; he released me...said you ruined his family...said you took over his group and looking at it now, you basically did....I know he didn't die on a run like you said....and I'm betting neither did Billy.

Kyle laughs in disbelief.

Kyle: For a moment, I thought we were bonding...hell, part of me was about to throw this detonator in the river.

Barnes: Oh, don't let this situation fool you, son....we're not friends.

Kyle: Oh, I know that....and don't think for one moment I won't press my finger on this button and-

Suddenly, the pier is rammed by something underneath the water.

Jake: What the hell?

Kyle: Jake, did we hit something?!

Jake: Hell if I know.

A giant fish like figure is swimming below the ocean under the pier.

Jake: We need to get off this thing, man.

Kyle: Oh, and where?! Into the water?!

Suddenly, another gun boat appears with a brute mini-gunner on it. Kyle kills the Brute mini-gunner, but the pier begins to sink.

Barnes: Jake! Kyle! It's starting to sink!

Kyle: Get on the gun boat!

Kyle, Jake and Barnes jump across to the gun boat, before the pier crashes into a wall and sinks. The gunboat drifts towards a cave, where outside the cave, large ripples are seen.

Kyle: keep your guard up.

The gun boat continues to travel down the river in the cave, before they notice a waterfall up ahead.

Kyle: You gotta be fucking kidding me!

The gunboat falls down the water fall as Kyle, Jake and Barnes struggle to stay on. The gunboat lands into the water as Kyle, Jake and Barnes swim back up and onto the boat.

Barnes: I really hate the water.

Kyle: You know; I never got that theory. Why do some people hate the water?

Barnes: It's just you can't see what's below you. Back in the old world, there were things like sharks, whales and-

Suddenly, low growling beneath the water is heard.

Barnes: And that....

Jake: what was that?

Kyle: Nothin good.

Jake: I think there's something under the water!

Kyle: I don't see shit!

Jake: Doesn't mean it can't see us!

The giant sea creature rams into the boat gun.

Barnes: Fuck! Where is it?!

Kyle: I don't know, but it's not going away.

Suddenly, a large tentacle emerges from the water.

Jake: Holy shit!

Kyle: Look out!

The tentacle latches itself onto the gun boat, attempting to drag it down.

Jake: It's trying to take the boat down!

Barnes: Like hell it is!

Barnes transforms his mechanical arm into a chainsaw, before severing the tentacle. The severed tentacle retreats into the water, before two more tentacles emerge, but Kyle and Jake manage to fight off the tentacles as they both retreat.

Kyle: Damn! I lost it!

After a few tense moments, the giant sea creature dubbed the Kraken emerges and bites into the front of the gun boat.

Kyle: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Barnes: Goddamn!

Jake: Get down!

Kyle, Jake and Barnes shoot at the Kraken creature as it retreats into the water. After a brief battle with the creature, Jake gets on the gun turret and opens fire onto the water, but the Kraken uses it's tentacle to rip off the gun turret.

Jake: Goddamn it! How the fuck are we going to kill this thing?!

Kyle: Like the drilling creature...

Barnes: Like Pinocchio! From the inside!

Kyle: Jake! See if we can get grenade in its mouth. Barnes, you blast it where hurts.

The giant Kraken returns as Barnes transforms his mechanical arm into a cannon, before shooting the Kraken in the chest, causing it to scream in pain and open its mouth.

Kyle: Jake! Now!

Kyle and Jake toss their grenades at the creature, which uses its tentacles to swipe away the grenades.

Jake: Damn it! It's too smart!

Kyle: We need another plan!

Jake: How? We're out of explosives.

Barnes: no, we're not. 

Barnes taps his neck where the neoru-bomb is.

Kyle: Barnes, wha-what are you?

Barnes: don't act like you don't care about me, man! It's a long shot and one of us has to make the play. May as well, be the one with the bomb in his neck.

The Kraken creature emerges, before Barnes shoots at it, gaining its attention.

Barnes: Good luck, Kyle.....see you in this world...or maybe not.

Kyle: Barnes!

Jake: Barnes, stop! Barnes!

Barnes: Hey! Hey! You big fucker!

Jake: Kyle!

The Kraken creature opens its mouth, revealing it's inner tentacles which grabs Barnes and pulls him into his mouth, swallowing Barnes whole. At the bleak moment, Kyle is forced to press the button on the detonator, causing Barnes' bomb to explode and killing the Kraken creature from the inside as it dies and sinks to the bottom.

Jake: Barnes.....and I was just starting to like him.

Kyle: Let's just get out of the goddamn water.

In Midtown Manhattan, Sarah walks into the command center as Pierce notices and approaches her.

Pierce: Mrs. Desipich, how can we help you?

Sarah: I just came to check on my husband. Is he okay?

Pierce: He and his companions have finally reached Mt. Whitney.

Sarah: Mt. Whitney? Why?

Pierce: That's where the Condemned Stronghold is located. Your husband will activate the beacon and we'll do the rest.

Sarah: Okay, well....is he all right?

Pierce: I'm sure he's fine....

Sarah: Well, whenever you get in contact with him, I'd like to speak to him.

A short pause.

Pierce: Look...Mrs. Desipich...I understand you're worried, but he's underground and we can't contact him.....also, as painful as it sounds, we can't have you taking his focus off of the mission.

Sarah: He's my husband and I'm his wife.....do you have a wife, Chairman Pierce?

A short pause.

Pierce: I had a wife....and a daughter.....they died shortly after the war started.....did you lose anyone?

Sarah: My parents....my brother.....all I have left is my sister and husband....so please, whenever you get in contact with him....I'd like to speak to him. This is a wife asking to hear the voice of her husband to see if he's alive.

Pierce: All right....I'll see what I can do.