Chronicles of the Apocalypse: Condemnation

In the throne room of the Hive, the Condemned Queen is sitting on her throne as Scorcher approaches her and bows to her.

Scorcher: (in Condemned language) My queen. We have intruders near the prison camps.

Condemned Queen: Double up the drones and sergeants. Search for them and kill them.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Jake continue travelling further into the Shallows.

Kyle: Jake, you okay?

Jake: I'm holding out...living...bout all I can do, right?...she didn't want me to join the A.O.W....she said I could've worked in her hometown as a blacksmith...make some good money.....we could've started over there....tried again.

Kyle: You did your best, man. Hell; she knows that you did. You bled to try to find her.

Jake: should've bled more...should've given more time into looking for her.....It never ends. We lose people we love the most....whenever you're close to dying, God just spits you back out into hell....Mom...Dad...Keera...they're the holy ones that get into heaven.

Kyle: Jake, you're alive for a reason, man. You're here for a reason. People are scared back at home...and not just home, but everywhere....feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to make it better.....it won't bring her back.

Jake: "Sorry for myself"? The hell do you know, Kyle? You've never had to kill anyone you cared about.

Kyle: Oh, yeah? I don't, huh? What if I'm not being honest with myself?...or to my wife? or to Shawn?....James?....and Walter knew the truth before he died.....what if I knew why Barnes was pushing me? What if I told everyone that he killed Sarah's brother, Nathan? But instead, what if the truth was, that he didn't....what if the truth was that Nathan was going insane....that he blamed me for everything including his girlfriends' death....and what if he had tried to kill me....and what if he killed Billy...was going to kill Ashley....so I had to kill him...and what if instead of telling the truth, I thought I would make it easy on myself by telling everyone that Barnes killed Nathan that the only ones who know what really happened were me and Ashley?

Jake is appalled and disgusted with Kyle.

Jake: Sarah doesn't know, does she?

Kyle looks down, ashamed.

Jake: God, man! What the f-what the fuck is wrong with you?! You killed your wife's' brother and you don't even have the balls to face her?! To tell her what really happened?!

Kyle: How the fuck can I, Jake?! What would you do if you were me?!

Jake: I don't know! Just fucking say it....you heard her...you heard what she said to Barnes...she wants to kill him, because she thinks that he killed her brother..... If we live through this, you need to come clean with her.....Dad would be so ashamed of you.

Kyle: Fuck you, all right? I had my goddamned reasons. Just like you had yours with Keera...Look, we don't have time for this shit. We gotta go.

Kyle and Jake walk through a set of doors and look ahead towards a giant Wasp Hive like castle in the center below a ocean of radioactive fluid.

Kyle: The Hive.

Jake: so where do we find the Queen?

Kyle: I'd bet on the tower in the middle and if you're a queen, you're going to live in a palace.

Jake: So when do we activate the beacon?

Kyle: We gotta get in deeper. We have to make sure none of the A.O.W lifts land in the radioactive fluid. C'mon. Let's make our way towards the palace.

Kyle and Jake make their way towards the palace as the Queen suddenly makes an announcement through the speakers.

Condemned Queen: To the intruders, look inside yourselves. You do not have the stomach or the will to conquer.

Jake: What? Who the hell is that?

Kyle: I'm going to take a wild guess that it's the Queen.

Kyle and Jake continue travelling through the Hive temples, eventually encountering a small Condemned squad. A gunfight ensues, but Kyle and Jake emerge victorious as the Queen continues to speak through the speakers.

Condemned Queen: Our people are destined to take what's left of Earth. Keep fighting for it, my children. As your queen and your leader, I will guide you.

Jake: Yeah! Definitely the queen!

Kyle and Jake travel through the Hive and reach the center of the temple, where Kyle pulls out the beacon.

Condemned Queen: nothing can stand in your way, my children. Humanity is dying and we are the future. We shall conquer the wasteland and begin a new age.

Jake: We'll see about your new age, bitch.

Kyle: Okay, we're in deep enough. Time to plant the beacon.

Kyle plants the A.O.W beacon as it releases a burst of energy, signaling the A.O.W. Back in Midtown Manhattan, the command center, the computer men are receiving the beacon's signal with Bowers, Pierce, Shawn, James and Sarah present.

A.O.W Signal Receiver: Chairman Pierce. We're receiving a signal from the beacon.

Bowers: He's done it....I don't fucking believe it.

Sarah laughs in happiness.

Sarah: He's alive...you're alive, my love.

Pierce: Bowers, get the men and women ready to deploy. Let's give those sons of bitches hell.

Shawn: Pierce, we're going with them.

Pierce: Son-

Bowers: Sir, with all due respect, these two did manage to get a handful of civilians from the underground.

A short pause.

Pierce: okay then...you two will ride into lift A-12.

James: Got it!

Shawn: Let's go, James.

Back in the Hive, Kyle and Jake are engaging attacking Condemned drones.

Jake: Let's hope that that beacon did something!

Kyle: Yeah, let's hope!

On the surface, A.O.W Rigs are deploying the lifts with A.O.W Soldiers aboard them. Shawn and James are among the few being deployed.

Shawn: We both know how this'll end.

James: One way or another.

In the Hive, Kyle and Jake continue to hold off the Condemned until they notice A.O.W lifts coming in.

Kyle: Jake! Look!

Jake laughs.

Jake: Yeah! Yes! It fuckin worked!

Suddenly, a squad of Condemned drones appear with a Condemned brute armed with a mini-gun and open fire on the two, causing them to take cover. After pinned down for a few minutes, the Brute is suddenly shot in the head with an explosive crossbow by Shawn.

Shawn: Hey, boys! You miss us?!

Jake: Kyle, it's Shawn and James!

James: Round two, bitches!

With the help of Shawn and James in the upper level, Kyle and Jake manage to finish off the Condemned squad. Kyle and Jake then reunite with Shawn and James with brotherly hugs.

Kyle: The hell you guys doing back down here?

Shawn: Hey, man, if this is the end of humanity, I'd spend it fighting with my brothers.

James: I would prefer a island where I can get my toes in the sand and sip some tequila.

Shawn: Where's Barnes?

A short pause.

Kyle: He didn't make it.

Shawn and James give a moment of silence.

James: You know; I think I'll actually miss the scar face robot armed bastard.

Shawn: So now what?

Kyle: Now, we get into the palace and find the queen. C'mon, let's go.

Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James enter an elevator lift that takes them up.

Shawn: Damn. So this is the Hive, huh? Looks....medieval in a more modern way.

James: I still don't get how they could've built all this shit so fast.

Kyle: Hell, we still don't how they've turned into monsters and living down here like this.

James: And all this radioactive fluid? What are they doing with it? Just...drinking from it.

Kyle: Maybe, but the queen keeps on making statements about reaching the surface.

Suddenly, the Condemned Queen speaks.

Condemned Queen: on the surface of the wasteland, awaits our destiny.

Kyle: Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

The lift reaches into the Hive as Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James exit.

Kyle: Okay, let's find a way in.

The Condemned Queen speaks again through the speakers.

Condemned Queen: Destroy them all! The humans! The Krens! We must reach the surface!

James: "The Krens"? What the hell are the Krens?

Kyle: Who knows?

Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James witness a gunfight between Condemned and an unseen enemy.

James: Well, they're in a hurry.

Shawn: Look at em run! They're losing and scared shitless! We must be fucking them up bad!

Kyle: It can't be us.....it's too far from the beacon....it's gotta be something else going on.

Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James travel through the Hive, where across from their location, they witness a Condemned battle between other Condemned that have radioactive fluid infused in their bodies.

Jake: What the-are they fighting each other?

Shawn: What the fuck?

Continuing to fight further down into the Hive, Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James approach a dead Condemned drone with radioactive fluid on it. Jake attempts to touch it, but James stops him.

James: Jake, I wouldn't, man....you know; you could easily get something like Blood Lung or something.

Jake: Yeah, good call.

Shawn: Let me process this...so the Condemned we've been seeing...the glowing ones...they're fighting the regular Condemned?

Kyle: Seems like it.

Shawn: I thought they were all on the same side and shit.

James: Nah, we've been doing so well so far.

Kyle: That explains a lot in the raids....why they've been going from city to city...they're running from these Krens....and they're losing.

Shawn: Hey, these things with radioactive fluid explode, right?

James: Yeah...remember the radioactive fluid factory four years ago, Kyle?

Kyle: Yeah, I do....keep your distance if we run into them.

Suddenly, more Condemned appear as a gunfight ensues with Kyle, Jake, Shawn and James running to the elevator that takes them to the bottom. Suddenly, more Krens appear.

Shawn: Yo, those glowing Condemned are on their way!

James: I got it!

James presses down on the lever, taking the lift down as a Condemned jumps at the group, but Shawn guns him down.

Shawn: Bulls eye, baby!

As the Condemned drone dies, the radioactive fluid suddenly automatically crawls of the dead Condemned drone and back into the army of Krens.

Shawn: Guys, are you seeing this shit?!

Kyle: Yeah, we are.

Jake: Unbelievable.