Ultimus Chapter 10: The Search for Sanctuary Part One

Andrew ran as fast as he could down the path with Reuben running by his side. He didn’t care about the dangers that lurked around or above him. All he wanted was to get to the entrance and hope that their was a vehicle there for him to use. He drove the ATVs before and knew how they worked. So that was the easy part down and all he had left was to get to the entrance and hope their was a vehicle.

He continued running through the dark forest path, yet the trees kept getting thinner and further between. Andrew soon noticed the he could see outside of the forest and see buildings on the edge of the forest. He had finally made it!!! But instead of excitement, he became filled with fear to the sight he beheld. Reuben ran to his side and gave a whine of fear too.

A wasteland of death and destruction. The ground beyond the forest pale and discolored. The landscape unearthly compared to even what Andrew remembered. It had been so long ago since he last saw the outside world to this forest or the school at Arat. He forgot how bad it looked, but it didn’t look quite like this. And why didn’t the forest take over more of the wasteland?

“What Happened?” Andrew said out loud, he took a step forward and heard a metallic sound. He looked down and noticed a large metal barrier on the ground. He looked to his left and it continued around the forest in that direction, looked to his right and it did the same thing. He also noticed to his right was the visitor center for the park on the edge of the forest. Andrew ran over and noticed the vehicles that were parked next to the buildings. Four old ATVs, one of them looked like his parents. He went to it and looked inside at the vehicle. Keys still in the ignition. He looked in the glove compartment and found the owner registration, Hunter and Kim Lang. Andrew couldn’t believe it. Why did they leave their ATV here? The closest airport was over a hundred miles away. Andrew then noticed a weird pedestal, it stood behind the building and was all by itself.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would Mom and Dad leave the ATV here?” Andrew said out loud again, Reuben looked at Andrew as he said this.

Andrew and Reuben walked over to the old, strange pedestal. As he got closer to it, he could felt something pulsing through him. It was strange feeling, yet felt powerful and energizing. He walked closer to the pedestal and noticed various names of cities on it from Arat Prime to Sanctuary with the dial last being set to Arat Prime. The button glowed red and sat there as if waiting for someone to press it. Andrew messed with the dial and noticed when he set the dial on specific points like Sanctuary, the button would go grey and seem to deactivate. He messed around with the dial some more and set to a setting called “S.S 4, near Sanctuary”. Andrew hovered his hand over the button. He didn’t know what any of this did or meant. He took a step back and looked at the visitor center.

‘Maybe I should grab a couple more things before pressing this button.’ Andrew thought and noticed to himself.

He walked away from the pedestal and walked towards the entrance. Andrew went to open the door, but he noticed the glass of the door was shattered and seemed to be safely accessible to just go through the frame.

“Reuben, stay here.” Andrew said, Reuben sat down and watched as Andrew went inside the building.

All the lights were off and very little light came through the windows and doors. Andrew looked around in the low visibility building and saw a camping shop in the corner. Andrew walked into the shop and saw cooking supplies, flashlights and other camping and survival equipment. Immediately Andrew went over and grabbed a first aid kit and a flashlight. Andrew looked over at the hunting knives and a backpack and grabbed one of each of those.

Andrew tried to grab everything and anything he could think of that he needed before leaving the visitor center with Reuben following and placing all the items in his parent’s ATV. He then went through all the items he had grabbed and thought of what he might need currently. He immediately grabbed the backpack, first aid kit and flashlight. As these items were important. He looked at the knife, was that needed? He packed it just in case.

Andrew and Reuben ran back to the pedestal and Andrew checked if he had everything he needed again. After he was sure he had everything, he raised his hand over the button. He took a deep breath and looked at Reuben.

“Here we go!!” Andrew said as he pressed the button. Pedestal made a sound and light flashed. The next thing Andrew knew, he was in the dark.