( Update | 15/3/2026 : polishing some words and rough edges while also adding some words. )
(Imported from Wattpad.)
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[ Time : ??:?? ??, somewhere between afternoon ]
[ Location : Unknown ]
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The sound of his footsteps broke through the silent air of the empty street, aside from the sound of passing wind and occasional sound of birds somewhere at the distance.
He have just begun to walk down the desolate street about a minute ago after leaving from the building he have came out of.
As He walk, He occasionally step onto small puddle of rain water and some pile of small debris while He looked around his new surroundings; passing through abandoned buildings to another, passing to broken street light pole to another. Judging by the puddle of rain water across the street, it seemed that it had just stopped raining when He was still within the bunker earlier, so it's probably a couple of minutes ago if He were to guess.
' This city seemed to have been abandoned as well, just like the bunker earlier. But why? Did something terrible happened here while I was... Asleep? '
He thought.
Whatever happened that cause the inhabitant of this city and the bunker to abandon everything behind, He could only guess. As for what happened to the inhabitant after? Same deal.
While walking down the street, He stumble upon an abandoned grocery store. And as expected for an abandoned grocery store, it has broken windows, the grocery store automatic doors has seeming been completely bashed down by something, and a fallen grocery store sign laying on the sidewalk.
Without thinking much, He decided to enter the broken down grocery store, most likely wanted to seek out some supplies or at least something in it; even though the store seems like it has been looted ages ago.
As He enters the store, He found himself with quite an expected sight. Broken down aisle, junks all across the floor, broken shards of glass, and some debris from the store ceiling.
He walk deeper into the store, making his way down on one of the aisles that have yet broken down.
As He walked down the aisle, He managed to stumble upon some items left on one of the aisles, stopping to have a good look of it. The items in question are consist of seemingly old cans of food of various sizes and old plastic bags of chips.
Curious, He place down his pen flashlight and his MP-443 GRACH on top of the aisle before He reach down to grab one of the canned food before inspecting it. The red can He grabbed is the largest among the other can, and from his guess after inspecting the can, it appears to be a canned of cow meat judging by the appearance of a cow on it. There were black words printed on the red can, but the language of the words... He afraid that He cannot understood what it really meant.
While inspecting the can in his hand, He seem to have found the expiration date of the can, which He of course went took a good look on it due to how hard it was to read it due to it having to contest with time itself.
"Fourteen... September... Twenty... Twenty fifty five..?"
He slowly reads out loud.
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2055? That's... That's something He isn't sure of right now, as He have yet to know what date or year is it currently. But judging by the... Obvious strange odor coming from beneath the sealed can, it seems that it had already reached and went beyond it's expiration date long ago.
Uncertain whether He should find out what's beneath the can or not, He simply place the can back onto the aisle. After He did, He instead reach out and grab one of the old plastic bag of chip from the same aisle.
After that He went to open the plastic bag and look closely inside the bag to take a good look ---
"OH GOD--"
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(￣x￣;)
...Slowly placing the opened old plastic bag of chip back onto the same aisle He have taken it from, He quickly came to a solid conclusion. All of the items have reached their expiration date. Above and beyond their expiration date.
' I-I should... Get going now... '
He thought.
A wise choice.
Grabbing back his pen flashlight and his pistol from the top of the aisle, He resume his way down the aisles, where He finally stumble upon the store's cash register. He went around the cash register after approaching it before he's now behind the register.
There wasn't anything useful around the register. Though He is curious about one thing, which it was obvious of what it was. The cash register.
When He reach out and open the cash register, He found quite a lot of cash laying inside the cash register, though they seem to be rather torn, somewhat wet, and or even rotten. Most definitely the cause of time. As for the wet and the rot? Perhaps it due to rain managing to seep through the cracks on the store ceiling and drip onto the cash register; thus seeping through and wetting the papers in it.
Closing the cash register back, He took a good look around the store for a moment before his eyes landed on a metal door to his left; a door most likely lead to the back room of the store.
As He goes to approach the door, He slowly reach out to the doorknob as He slowly raise his pistol up in his other hand.
Taking a deep breath to build up a courage and readiness, He quickly twist the doorknob, pushing the door inward before fully raising his pistol and quickly entering the dark doorway.
As He quickly enters the room, turning himself to the right while his pistol raised before He puts his pen flashlight into a reverse grip form and turning it on, He quickly scan while flashing his beam of light throughout the room for a few moment before He finally lower his pistol down and relaxed himself.
Inside were just filled with rusty metal shelves of old boxes and thick dust. Fortunately, it doesn't smell like anything rotting here, and it doesn't seem like anyone have ever been here ever since. As expected, but you never know. After all, What He did earlier was merely a precaution.
He made his way across the room, passing through the rusty shelves before stumbling upon an old wooden table with dusty old computer on it.
Not thinking much, He place down his pen flashlight on the table before adjusting its position so the small beam of light illuminate towards the shelves of boxes. After He did so, He turn back and made his way back towards the shelves of boxes before He finally began to scavenge through the boxes one by one; grabbing one box with his elbows, putting the box down on the floor, before rummaging through it.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
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' Damn! '
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' ... Still nothing. '
He thought with a slight disappointment.
Cleaning his hands together from the amount of dust He have collected in his hands, He stood back up to his feet before letting out a long tired sigh as He made his way back towards the same wooden table to grab his pen flashlight back. All of the effort He did kinda went to waste as each and every single one of those boxes had nothing useful in them; mostly just filled with expired food and drinks. Though if He were to be honest, what does He expect from this broken down grocery store that have possibly been abandoned for who-knows-how-long, with the expired canned food and that bag of ship on the aisle from earlier wasn't already obvious enough sign.
But despite that, He still insist to check the back room and went all the trouble rummaging through all of the boxes. Was it's because He was optimistic? Out of survival? Or He simply did it because He could?
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Uncertain.
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After exiting the store, He continue onward down the desolate street. But as He does, He began to stumble upon more and more things; such as old broken down vehicles on the street, concrete barriers, sandbag barriers, and even old broken down military vehicles, which made him went back to his question earlier, perhaps something bad did happened judging by the growing presence of old abandoned military vehicles(though perhaps minus the 'asleep' part).
Curiosity got the better of him as He made his toward one of the broken down military vehicle that had seeming crashed onto a light pole.
He tried look through the stained tinned window of the drivers door for a moment, in attempt to see into the interior of the vehicle, before stepping back and shook his head slightly in defeat.
' ... Maybe the door? '
He thought.
Cautiously reaching down to the door handle, He raises his pistol in his other hand before He finally opens the door wide. When He did, something dark that almost resembles something humanoid have slip off from the drivers seat and onto the asphalt ground.
- !!! -
He already had his index finger on the trigger, almost about to pull it instinctively for a moment before He held back and finally see what it was. To his shock, it was... A corpse. At least that's what He think he's seeing right now.
The sight of it is... Terrific, sickening, to the point He doesn't even know how to describe what he's seeing right now. At best, He could only describe it as scorched and mutated beyond recognition. And the smell coming from it as well as from within the vehicle, it was a hybrid mix of rot, burnt, and copper-like; much worse compare to what He had once smell from earlier. At the same time, He almost felt as if he's about to fell sick by the sickening sight, yet He barely managed to suppress it.
Lowering his pistol, He cautiously took a few step towards the corpse before slowly crouching down to investigate the corpse(while also trying his best to suppress the urge within him).
After inspecting the corpse for a moment, He finally stood back up. Judging by the barely visible uniform and equipment its wearing and the fact that it has been sitting in the military vehicle, it's safe to assume that the corpse is once a military personnel. The only question remain is; who could've done this to this poor soul?
He briefly stared down at the corpse, perhaps thinking something to himself at that moment, before slightly nodded his head to the corpse in silence. Whoever you once were, may you rest easy.
After that, He finally went to reluctantly resume what he was going to do with all of the abandoned vehicles sitting around the streets; scavenge and rummage.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
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- Sigh... -
He lean himself lazily against the old wooden bench after settling down both of his tools beside him.
He had just done searching through all of the wreckage on the street and have decided to go rest his body soon after. And fortunately, he had just found this rather small park right after finishing his scavenge, which only took a few a couple of steps from the same street.
After resting for a while, He eventually stood back up, stretching his arms around momentarily before He walk to the side of the old bench, where He have placed down all of the stuff He have found and gathered from his scavenging run through those broken vehicles.
' Alright, let's see what I have here. '
[Found]:
+ 1x Old broken military wrist watch
+ 1x Old rusty AK-74M
+ 1x Small old ammo pack of 20 5.45x39mm '7n6' cartridge
+ 4x Old pack of cigarette of unidentified brand
+ 1x Old AI-2 Med-kit (used)
+ 1x Old gas mask filter
+ 1x Old 6b45 armored vest
After organizing the items in order, He began his inspection one by one through them.
Started off with the wrist watch. The military wrist watch... Is obviously old. And also broken. He had no idea why He bother grabbing it from one of the military vehicles. Maybe He thought that He could at least salvage something out of it? But salvage what from the broken wrist watch? It's not like He is a wrist watch expert and a professional salvager or anything.
[Removed]:
- Old broken military wrist watch
Shaking his head slightly, He set the old broken wrist watch aside before going onto the next item on the list.
The old rusty rifle.
He found it laying around near the sidewalk of the same street behind a broken concrete barrier. And to be frank, the rifle is... Beaten up at best.
The barrel is seemingly bended slightly to the right by a few degree, so good luck shooting straight. Though not sure if a bullet will come out accurately judging by the amount of rust on it.
The bolt for some reason is jammed tight mid-way(which He had attempted to rack it back using the charging handle and even a few stomps against a solid surface a few moments earlier). Perhaps something is tightly stuck in the chamber? Perhaps a piece of cartridge or something?
The folding stock is meh, works relatively okay compare to most of the parts of the old rifle.
The polymer furniture still felt relatively nice in his hands despite the test of time and exposure to nature, aside from a few sign of wear on it.
The trigger is stuck in place, most likely because of that jammed bolt.
The iron sights looks okay, will seemingly work fine if it wasn't for the bended barrel.
The magazine is broken. Because it seems that someone or something have managed to land a hole through the polymer magazine, perhaps it has been shot at some point.
In his conclusion: the rifle is unusable unfortunately. Which while its suck, it at least made him feel grateful of the pistol he has right now.
[Removed]:
- Old rusty AK-74M (Damaged, unusable)
Next. The ammo pack.
Not much to talk about. The pack seemed to have been ripped open in a frantic way by someone. Inside the pack were only 9 rifle rounds that were surprisingly look somewhat decent, which would honestly be awesome if it wasn't for the piss condition of the rifle. And because He doesn't want to carry around a couple of loose cartridges, he'll have to leave them unfortunately.
[Removed]:
- 9x 5.45x39mm '7n6' cartridge
Next. The 4 pack of cigarette.
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He doesn't smoke. At least as far as He knew of himself. And even if He does, He didn't have something to light them. And that is if the cigars could even be lit up in the first place after being exposed to the environment for so long(not to mention the rain from earlier).
[Removed]:
- 4x old pack of cigarette of unidentified brand
Next. The... What is this? A block of cheese? A small med-kit?
Opening it, it does seem to be the case judging by the seemingly faint medical instruction in it(again, filled with the same exact unreadable language. The same language written on that red can of meat back at that store). Though there's only very few stuff in it, which most likely mean that someone have used it at some point since He found it among a few dry stain of blood in one of the broken down civilian vehicle.
He'll probably put it aside for now. Who knows.
[Removed]:
- 1x Old AI-2 Med-kit(used)
Next. The gas mask filter.
Again, not much to say here. He wasn't sure as to what else He could do with it since... He obviously have no gas mask. And if He does, will it be compatible? Will the filter even work after all this time? Will it help him breath better through something bad, or will it fill his lungs with something worse?
[Removed]:
- Old gas mask filter
Last one. The vest, which He found inside of an old crate in the back of an abandoned military truck among the other broken military vehicles.
' ... Is this thing even have like... What? Armor plates in them? '
And He is right, the vest does not have any plates in then. Plus, there aren't any pouches or stuff connected to its MOLLE system. Just an old plain vest. If the vest were to have at least have some sort of armored plates in them, He would gladly wear it even without any sort of pouches or fancy stuff as such.
[Removed]:
- Old 6b45 armored vest
Shaking his head for a moment, He finally stood back up to his feet from sitting down on the wet grass.
For a moment, He sigh. Not from tiredness, but from the lack of result and success in his scavenging. So far, aside from the pistol and the pen flashlight, He have found almost nothing that'll bring value to him. And even if He does found something actually useful, He unfortunately doesn't have the space for it right now.
And speaking of space, He turns around and made his way towards a small pond of water that is located in front of the bench.
After approaching the pond, He crouch down to his one knee before He stretch his head out slightly. As He did, his eyes were met with a faint reflection of himself on the water.
And for the first time since leaving that bunker, is where He actually able to see what He actually looked like(aside from the windows on the abandoned vehicles earlier, those were too dirty or too tinted).
First impression? He looked... Well... Normal. At least that's what He thinks.
The first thing He saw was his own eyes staring back at him. Almond-shaped and blue. A rather lively looking almond-shaped blue eyes. As if He didn't bear witness on something horrific and grotesque just earlier. And to add extra, He has black eyebrows.
The second thing He saw is his own face. His face looked... Young(Like that of a someone in their... Early to mid 20's?). It doesn't seem like He has a sharp jawline(maybe it's smooth or something?). Oh and to add, He also has quite a light skin tone.
And last thing for certain is his own hair. Black. He doesn't know what exact hair style He has due to how kinda messy it is. But it seem to lean a bit to a wavy mullet-like style. Eh, he'll figure it out.
In his conclusion? If He were to be humble, He seemed like a normal average innocent young man.
... Minus the 'waking up from a pod' part.
Now that He have examine and finally know his own face, He should also many as well address the elephant in the room, specifically about his storage problem.
And that, is his own outfit he's currently wearing, which He haven't bother thinking about it mostly due to the fact that He have to process so many unfamiliar things around him at once ever since from waking up from the pod. After all, why would someone's first priority is to check themself out upon waking up rather that the bigger elephant in the room, which is the unfamiliar environment they've suddenly found themself in and with little to no clue at all.
Looking down at his own, He finally see what he's wearing. And what He find... Is that he's wearing a white shirt and a pocketless black shorts.
... That's it. Just that.
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Wait a minute, now that He thought about it. Why the hell was He wearing shortsin that cryo pod, That same human freezer? And why this outfit in the first place? How did He not immediately freeze to death in that pod upon waking up during the middle of the cryo-statis?
And no wonder He has a storage space the size that of a average survival horror protagonist inventory... His shorts doesn't even come with pockets! What in the mad man was He when He wore this bare bone, fashion-less outfit and jump straight into a freezer. At this point, He really -- really wish to have at least somewhere or something to store his stuff. Hell, even a shirt pocket will grant him so(and unfortunately, his own white shirt didn't come with that either. Lovely...).
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- Sigh... -
He loudly sigh.
... He has finally realize how seriously screwed He is at that moment. No food, no water, no shelter, no sense of direction, no sense of time, no storage space, no warm clothes, no memory, no father, no --
He quickly shook his head.
' Focus, no name! '
He thought.
Heading back to the old wooden bench, He quickly took both of his items back into his grasp before leaving the small park.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
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It's beginning to turn night judging by how much light have began to set due to the lack of visible sun because of the cloudiness above the skies.
He was walking down a different street, this time on the sidewalk as He looked around for something. A new priority in his mind currently: Shelter.
And it seem that Lady Luck have finally decided to bless him this time, as He stumble upon a rather intact abandoned old apartment building.
Entering the old apartment through the rough old wooden door and shutting it behind him, he's met with a staircase and 2 door on each side(both of them which seem like to have been barricaded by wooden boards).
He took the staircase up, climbing up the steps into a new floor, then another soon after, of course while having his pistol up and lights on because of how incredibly dark it has gotten inside of the apartment.
After entering another floor, He finally saw that the staircase leading up to another floor have been blocked by old furniture and barricades, marking an end of his ascend as He looked to see that there are 2 set of doorways on each side. On his right is again an old wooden door, with it's door handle felt stuck in place when He tried to open it. While on the other is an open doorway, with it's door complete been busted down onto the floor.
Once He enters the doorway with his lights up, He is met with a narrow hallway with several doorways leading to various part of the apartment room.
He goes to explore and check through the entire apartment room. Fortunately, it seems that no one have live here for a while. To summarize, the apartment room has a small bedroom, a small kitchen, a small living room, a small bathroom, a small storage room, and a small balcony.
After blocking the doorway entrance with an old empty wardrobe that He have pushed from the small bedroom with relative ease, He slowly made his way back to the small bedroom through the narrow hallway.
He enters the small bedroom and slowly closing the old rough wooden door shut shortly after.
The small bedroom is, well, small. Speaking of which, while of course the apartment room appears to be about as old as himself, it was surprisingly well preserved and barely any sign from exposure to the environment and time(minus the busted door entrance of course). No sign of mold, only some slight cracks on the walls, some ripped out wallpapers, and very few sign of overgrown on the balcony.
The bedroom has a small dusty old wooden desk with an old wooden chair and a single small white bed with an old white dusty pillow and an old blanket(minus the wardrobe, which He have push from the bedroom to block the apartment entrance for the time being). And honestly, He is grateful that he found a place that's actually decent to skip the night.
Turning off his light, He place both his pen flashlight and his pistol beneath the pillow before finally crawl onto the bed.
Laying down on his back... The bed is relatively comfy surprisingly for its age. Not too rough, though certainly not 100% soft either. And the pillow along with the blanket is just about the same as the bed.
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He stares silently up towards the bedroom ceiling through pitch black darkness. He could hear the sound of cold wind of the night from the small broken window. The subtle, barely audible distant sounds of crickets. And the sound of his own heartbeat.
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For the first time, He found... Peace(or perhaps it was solace?), despite the environment he's in. And not forgetting the... Face of that dead corpse earlier... It still fresh in his mind.
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His eyes began to feel heavy. His body relaxed and stiffen.
The fatigue and tiredness is finally setting in.
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Staring silently into the darkness for the last time...
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... He finally shuts.
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End of Chapter 1, part 1
Total word: 4172
Next: Chapter 1, part 2: [Get up, Gear up, Go... Where now?]
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