Dark System: Corinth
an excerpt

Chapter 5 – Collapse of the House of Cards

1

Krysta Worthington ran. She ran as if her life depended on it. The screams of her friends and neighbors still rang in her ears.
The black rocks cut into the palms of her hands as she struggled to climb the hills that surrounded that town that she had called her home. Krysta didn’t even care. A little bit of blood reminded her that she was alive.
As she reached the top of the hill that she had been climbing Krysta turned and looked back at the town. Instead of the small cluster of buildings she saw only a fiery dome. For a brief second she was terrified that the dome was still expanding, and then she saw that it was still stationary.
Krysta collapsed onto the rock, her blond hair spilling over her face. Exhausted, she turned over. She didn’t even care about the rocks digging into her back. A sound caught her attention, and she thought that she was in danger again. Soon enough, however, she realized that the sound was her own ragged breathing.
Krysta lost track of time, laying on the rock. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again the sky had darkened from the dimness of day to the eternal blackness of the night.
She rolled back onto her stomach and pushed herself up into a kneeling position. She felt for the edge of the rocks with her hands, trying to get a look out onto the landscape below.
Looking over the edge Krysta could see that the dome had disappeared. In its place she could see that the town that she made her home was burning. A huge plume of smoke rose from the black landscape into the sky. She could see embers in the skeletons of buildings, and not a sound of a counterattack to the fires came across the wasteland.
Another sound caught Krysta’s attention. She looked around in the dark, but the blackness was overwhelming. Besides the embers of her home, Krysta could see nothing. When the noise repeated itself she panicked.
Krysta pushed herself up off of the ground and started running again. In the back of her mind she knew that it was foolish. She could easily injure herself running blindly in the dark. She didn’t care, injury was better than death.
Krysta didn’t get far. She soon tripped over a rock. She felt her head contact something on the way down. The blackness had engulfed her completely as she hit the ground.

2

The transport rumbled over the landscape. The crew inside expected to find an obstruction that was preventing the small town near the ocean from communicating from the other towns.
“What’s that?” one of the crew members asked, pointing to a bit of color just off of the transport’s path.
“What’s what?” the driver asked.
“Slow down,” the first man responded. “I think that there’s a person over there.”
“Naw, you’re seeing things.”
One of the other crew members looked out. “No, slow down. I think he’s right. I’m seeing something too.”
The driver did as requested. As the transport settled to the barren landscape the crew shuffled out to investigate what the first man had seen.
“Is she dead?” one man asked as they stood over the body of a girl on the ground.
One of the other crew members knelt next to the girl. He could see blood clumped on the side of her head. He placed a couple of fingers to the side of her neck.
“I can feel a pulse. She’s alive.”
The crew breathed a collective sigh of relief. They were debating on how to move the girl to the transport when she moaned and started moving.
Immediately the crew members knelt at her side. As she fluttered her eyes open they looked for signs of health.
“What happened?” Krysta asked.
The crew members looked among themselves. They finally chose the man who had first noticed her to speak for the group. “We were about to ask you the same thing,” he replied.
Krysta shook her head, trying to remember. She remembered the terror, but her mind wouldn’t let any other memories through. She sat for a moment, and then finally gave her head a firm shake. “I can’t remember.”
“Can you walk?” asked the man, proffering an arm.
Krysta took the arm, and allowed the man to help her to her feet.
“What’s your name?” the man asked.
“Krysta… Krysta Worthington.”
“I’m Jason Myer. Where did you come from?”
“I live in Skylie.”
“Skylie? That’s several miles from here, did you walk this entire way?”
Krysta looked around. “I guess I did. I don’t remember.”
Jason took her hands, and turned them over. He could see scratched and cuts covering her palms from where she had pulled herself up the rocks.
The rest of the crew looked dubious. She was obviously not dressed to be hiking across the rocks. Form fitting pants and a shirt showed off her slender body, and the boots she wore were more suited to walking paved streets than crossing the rocky landscape.
One of the other crew members listened as a report came through his earpiece. “We need to get back to our original mission guys, they’re trying to get a status report.”
“We’re headed back toward Skylie now,” Jason said. “We’re trying to find out why communication with the town ended suddenly yesterday. Would you like a ride?”
Something was nagging at the back of Krysta’s mind, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Slowly she nodded.
“Come on then,” Jason said, tugging at her elbow. “We need to get going.”
Krysta nodded, and allowed herself to be led to the waiting transport. As she climbed in she saw that one of the other members of the crew was pulling a medical kit from the back and was passing it forward. Jason took the medical kit and opened it up. He pulled out a small scanner and a jar of ointment.
“Hold you your hands,” Jason said.
Krysta did as she was asked, holding out her hands, palms up so that Jason could pour some ointment onto the scratches that covered her palms.
“It’s going to sting slightly,” Jason said as he poured. Krysta winced, but didn’t say anything. “Now rub them together,” Jason concluded.
Krysta rubbed her hands together, and then watched as the ointment sped the healing process. The smaller cuts nearly vanished, and the larger ones itched as they closed themselves.
“If I may?” Jason asked, indicating that he would like to take a look at the cut on her head.
Krysta nodded. Jason took her chin in his hand and moved her head so that he could see the cut in the light of the transport. Once he had a good look at the injury he passed the scanner over her head.
“Doesn’t look like there are any broken bones, and there doesn’t appear to be any serious damage. But I’d still like for a doctor to look at this wound once you get home.”
Krysta nodded again.
Jason sealed the jar of ointment and pulled out a tube of the same solution. Krysta could tell that it had been made thicker so that it would cling to the skin. She turned her head again and allowed Jason to apply some of the salve to her head.
“Sorry for the delay guys,” the driver called back from the front of the transport. “It looks like there was another rock fall last night. We’ve had to go quite a ways around. We should be able to see Skylie any moment now.”
Krysta watched as the crew nodded. She once again felt that something was wrong, but again the thoughts flitted away before she had a chance to grasp them.
As the transport crested a hill the driver brought it to a sudden stop. Krysta felt herself flung against Jason as the momentum carried her forward.
“Chris!” somebody yelled from the back. “What gives? Are you trying to kill us?”
“Are you alright?” Jason asked as Krysta pushed herself back into a sitting position.
Krysta nodded, and Jason turned to face the driver. “What’s up Chris? What’s with the sudden stop?”
Krysta could see that the driver, Chris, was frantically trying to get readings on what he saw ahead of the transport. She craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse out of the front window, but the angle of the transport was such that she couldn’t see anything.
Receiving no answer from the driver, one of the other crew members opened the door of the transport. Krysta watched as the men tumbled out of the vehicle, desperate to see what had shocked the driver so. She waited a moment, and then followed herself.
One of the other crew members had already had his fill of the view as Krysta climbed out of the transport. He placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, and shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”
Krysta gave him a horrified look, and then shrugged off his hand. Memories were trying to attach themselves to something, and she needed to know. She headed toward the rise.
Jason was already coming back down, slowly shaking his head. He grabbed her. “No, you don’t need to see it,” he said softly.
“Yes I do,” Krysta replied firmly.
Jason sighed, and released her. He knew that he had to right to keep her from seeing what was below. He turned and followed Krysta to the top of the rise.
For a moment Krysta couldn’t believe what she was seeing, it was too surreal. Then the memories finally fell into place. Screaming, Krysta sank to her knees.
Jason knelt next to her. “Krysta?”
Krysta was babbling in her terror. “Too fast, can’t escape. Must run.”
Jason shook Krysta’s shoulders. “Krysta?”
Krysta looked directly at Jason. For a second he thought that she was returning to reality, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped forward.