Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 40: Deep Suspicions

Note: Story starts in Achatina, The Island ABC order for Section I, Scorched Earth Exclusives and Aberration Exclusives for Section II and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Bulbdog, next chapter in Glowbug.

Chapters to the end of Section II: 10

Day 2 of Aberration…

6:39 AM…

The sun began to slowly rise above the horizon of the Ark, its light flooding across the land. The rays of light slowly entered the Aberration cave, lighting up the green zone. The rays flooded across the forest, then reached the small thatch hut that sat on top of a cliff far north of the mushroom forest. Nal groaned as she began to move her body. She was twitching a little bit. She then opened her eyes slowly, blinking quickly and looked up. She then rubbed her eyes and sat up. As she got up from her bed, she walked towards the door. Her implant was glowing dimly, and a purple light was shimmering in the center. Nal held her left wrist tightly, wincing.

“What the heck?” Nal asked. She looked closely at her implant. There seemed to be no damage, no injures, until she noticed a strange object lodged under her implant, piercing her skin. Nal put her right hand on it, and gripped the object. She tried to pull it out, but when she did, her implant flashed brightly and searing hot pain shot through Nal’s body. Nal screamed loudly in pain and let go of her implant. The implant glowed purple, and the object was still there, though slightly more deeper and causing blood to pour out of her wrist. Nal gasped and sat down, and Sodden got up, groaning.

“Something wrong, Nal? Why you up so early, anyway?” Sodden said. Nal sighed.

“I don’t know. I just felt something painful in my implant and it woke me up. I tried to get it out and I think it might’ve made it worse.” Nal said, gripping her implant tightly. Sodden walked to Nal and sat on the bed with her.

“What happened?” Sodden asked. Nal shrugged.

“No idea. It was completely fine yesterday.” Nal said.

“Well… I don’t know either. Hey, now that we’re up, why don’t we get levels?” Sodden said.

“You can go. Take my shotgun and armor.” Nal said.

“Okay, fine. Just be careful here, okay?” Sodden said. Nal nodded. Sodden then walked to Nal’s bag, which sat on the side of Nal’s bed, then took a set of flak armor and put it on, then Nal’s shotgun and around 120 ammo. Then Sodden took some cooked meat off the extinguished campfire near the door then walked out of the door. Nal sighed and looked down at her implant. The weirdly-shaped object was now red, and was a little longer. Nal wanted to get it out, but she was scared of what would happen if she did. Nal sighed and put her right hand on the object, then began to grip it hard. Nal took a deep breath and slowly began to pull the object. There was a clanking sound and her implant was humming loudly, Nal was gasping quickly, her heart beginning to accelerate. Nal continued to pull, as she shut her eyes closed, and she could feel terrible pain going through her veins. Her implant then flashed red as Nal began to get the object out, then she yanked it straight out of her wrist, causing her implant to shoot a beam of purple light straight up, which went right through the thatch ceiling and shot up all the way to the ceiling of the cave. A large blotch of blood showed up on Nal’s implant. Nal screamed loudly, her heart racing at an unhealthy rate. Rod looked up at the beam of light and smiled.

“Marison, phase one is complete. I’ll find some hazard suits, and we’ll begin phase two.” Rod said to his implant, then he sent the message. He grinned and chuckled.

“You made a big mistake bringing me, Sodden.” Rod said deeply.

Dorack’s eyes shot open as he noticed some weird humming. He then got up from his bag, walked out of his shack, and gasped loudly as he saw a large purple beam of light ascending to the surface of the Ark. Dorack’s jaw dropped.

“What the heck is that?” Dorack gasped. Reaper then walked out of the hut, then looked up and growled in curiosity.

“I don’t know what that-” Dorack said, then he got a notification on his implant. Dorack looked at it, and what he saw stopped him completely. Sodden was shooting down a Basilisk, and after killing it, he got a notification on his implant.

Rod got the notification too. He grinned. “Oh, yes. It is done. Time to go.” Rod said. He then walked from the shack he had built near a lake and walked down towards the blue zone.

The purple beam of light then faded away after a few minutes. Sodden ran fast, his feet pounding against the grass, as he continued to dash towards the shack. He got there a few minutes after the beam of light dissolved, then opened the door. There was nothing. Nal wasn’t there, and there was no significant damage. All there was was some blood on the ground. Sodden gasped and put his hand to his mouth.

“How… what… what’s going on? What happened?” Sodden gasped. He looked around the place. Nal’s bag was gone. “What? No. How… how can she have died permanently? Her implant was fine yesterday, for all I know. The radiation? No, it can’t be right. Where’s her corpse and stuff? What the heck?” Sodden whispered. He was in shock. So was Dorack. Something fishy was going on.

Dorack was on Reaper’s back, and Reaper was running towards where they saw the purple beam. Reaper’s feet pounded against the rocky ground, she dashed towards the mushroom forest. Dorack was speechless and in shock.

“How… how the heck? No. She was fine yesterday. I didn’t see who did it. No. She can’t be gone…” Dorack whispered.

~~~~

Bum. Bum. Bum.

Bum.

Serenity’s eyes shot open, and she looked up, gasping. Her hands were stuck to the wall by some metal. Her legs were too. Her neck was held back by a metal collar too. Serenity was gasping as she looked around. She seemed to be in some kind of prison. Then she heard some voices.

“Rod did it. Now Dorack and Sodden know Nal’s gone for good. This is going good.” One person said. Then the other person slapped him on the head.

“Shut up. Serenity could be awake.” The other guy growled. The person scoffed.

“Fine.” He growled. The two then walked away, their footsteps dissipating from the room. Serenity gasped as she looked around. “What?” Serenity gasped.

~~~~

Over two hours later, Sodden and Dorack sat in their hut, on Nal’s bed. They sat on the left side of the bed, next to each other, looking down.

“Wow. This was… an interesting turn of events.” Dorack said.

“Yeah. It’s… it’s just impossible to believe.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded.

“This can’t be true. It has to be a joke. I mean… how could she have died anyway? Her implant was fine yesterday, now it’s suddenly broken and it destroys Nal entirely in seconds? It sounds like someone did it to her.” Dorack said.

“Don’t be silly. We’d know if Rod did it and his tribe has not even come to any of us yet. They don’t know we’re here.” Sodden said. Dorack opened his mouth to say something, then they heard the door creak open.

“Hey, guys. Heard what happened. Sorry about Nal.” Rod said gloomily as he walked into the hut.

“Yeah. Oh… what happened to your shoulder?” Dorack asked, noticing a big bruise on his shoulder with blood coming out of it.

“Yeah, got attacked by a raptor. Broke my armor. I forgot to repair it back on Scorched Earth.” Rod said.

“Ooh. Sorry. Anyway, thanks. I’m just in shock right now.” Dorack said. Sodden nodded.

“Same. Well, I’ll go and get some more levels. I wanna do it alone this time. I want to clear my mind.” Sodden said as he got up from the bed.

“Wait. Why can’t I come?” Dorack asked. Sodden stopped just before the door and turned his head around.

“You look like you’re not in the mood to do anything. I’ll let you chill with Rod here. Okay?” Sodden said. Dorack nodded. Sodden turned back around to the door, opened the door, then walked out of the hut and closed the door. He walked towards the mushroom forest far from the cliff.

Dorack sighed and laid down on Nal’s bed, then looked up at the ceiling. Rod sat down next to him.

“So… today, I actually saw two people from the Drake Death tribe. They almost killed Reaper and I think they took Serenity too.” Dorack said. Rod looked at him.

“Hmm. Interesting.” Rod said. Dorack sat up.

“I thought you’d admit you sent them in to do it.” Dorack said. Rod glared at him, then lunged at him and put his hand on Dorack’s mouth, then holding him down. Dorack shouted as he tried to push Rod away. “Shut up. I have a entire wild Reaper Queen inside my base, and I’m not afraid to release it on Serenity. You will not expose me, or tell Sodden, or he will lose his girlfriend and you will lose your life just like Nal did. I don’t know how she died, but it probably was terrible. Would be a shame if you suffered the same fate she did.” Rod sneered. Dorack gasped.

“I will never betray my friend.” Dorack growled deeply.

“You will, or else you and Serenity die. And Sodden will be captured, shipped, and brainwashed. I believe you love Sodden so much you’d do anything to protect him. Anything, even keeping a dark secret.” Rod sneered. Dorack was speechless. He had no idea what to do. Nal was gone, Serenity was kidnapped, and now he’s being forced to hide something.

“No. I can’t… I don’t want Sodden to die. Neither Serenity. I’ve always wanted to fight the King Titan… and Sodden… no.” Dorack whispered.

“So…” Rod growled.

“I won’t tell him. I won’t. I swear I won’t. Just leave us alone. And do not call Serenity Sodden’s girlfriend. Oh, and one more thing. Stop talking about Nal. She did not deserve to die like that.” Dorack said. Rod sighed then got off of Dorack’s body, releasing him, then walked to the door. “You’re lucky. But not for long.” Rod growled. He then opened the door, walked out of the hut, slammed the door, and walked east. Dorack was panting. He put his head down. He started sniffling, tears appearing in his eyes.

“I… I can’t tell Sodden. If I do… everyone will die. I won’t. I must not.” Dorack whispered. He laid down on the bed, pulled the covers over his head, then closed his eyes.

~~~~

Somewhere in the mushroom forest, Sodden held his shotgun, shooting down dodos and stegos that came for him. Then he saw some weird roots sticking out of the ground. There were three of them, all were white. The middle one had some weird feathers on the top. Sodden walked closer, then the ground rumbled. Then the roots disappeared under the ground, then something shot up out of the hole. A Basilisk. It came out of the ground, roaring. Sodden ran past its head, shooting down its mouth. The Basilisk roared and ran towards Sodden, then the shotgun was destroying its head. The Basilisk screeched in pain. Then it lunged forward, and Sodden jumped out of the way, quickly reloaded his shotgun, then shot the Basilisk’s neck 4 times. The Basilisk then stopped moving and fell over. Sodden got three levels from it, so he was now Level 47. Sodden took a deep breath then kept walking through the forest. He reloaded his shotgun again and shot down some nearby creatures.

Rod continued walking through the spacious, lit up forests of the southeast green zone, and he looked around the area. He growled quietly. “I cannot have them on me. I must do something about this…” Rod growled deeply. He walked to a cliff, sat down near the edge, looking over edge at the blue zone far in the distance. He looked up, and began chuckling. It turned into a cackle in seconds.

“This is going good.” Rod sneered, grinning.

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-RelatingHen8906