Chapter 12—Nightmares

by Bocchan13

WARNING: Blood/gore

In these 3 months, Song Yu had accomplished everything. From buying to building, overseeing and watching as his impenetrable fortress was finished. The fence was finished in the allotted time. Song Yu knew that he couldn’t have accomplished it by himself, and since he made a splash in A country, people were bound to come looking for that insane young master. So once everyone left, Song Yu quilted the entire mountain. It took a very long time and A LOT of spiritual energy. Camouflaging the mountain didn’t necessarily make people unable to enter, but they would become confused and go around in circles, until ultimately they ended up back in the same place.

Unless there were people that could control spiritual energy better than him, would the camouflage dissipate. This entire process took almost a month to finish. By that time, he was burnt out so hard, he grew out his stylish hairstyle and there were deep bags under his eyes. He gawked at his face that reminded him so much of his previous life features.

Even though he was alone, he didn’t want to look ugly!

 So once everything had been settled, and he finished the first crop of vegetables, he went to get his hair cut and purchased shaving gear. He bought face masks in bulk and lotions that would expire in 5 years. He wasn’t much of a beauty guru, but he did appreciate a good day and night routine. He washed his face and couldn’t help but poke at those black spots under his eyes.

His nightmares hadn’t dissipated, in fact they became worse. Song Yu had no choice but to reinforce the walls by himself and curse his subconscious mind. He recalled his time in B Base and couldn’t help but cry bitterly in his pillow.

In the beginning, when abilities first came out, people were deathly afraid of them. They witnessed the first steps to a higher evolution, and like humans are…they were afraid of change. Ability users were cast out until they were strong enough to fight the zombies.

Then it was like a switch was flipped and they were regarded as heroes. Active ability users like fire, water, earth, and its variants like wind, electricity, disintegration, and lava were seen as veritable gods, while passive users like him: space, healing, plants, telepathy, flight, and clairvoyance weren’t regarded as needed.

When he was taken in by B Base’s scientists, they didn’t know the extent of abilities in general. So, treating him like a lab rat was bound to be inevitable. He was treated quite nicely. So nicely in fact, that he had the notion that he was a noble person to put himself into the hands of scientists for the sake of the world.

But their own agenda was not noble in the slightest. He could still remember those nice doctors smiling at him as he woke up groggy bound to a bed. He felt the hard metal, cold against his skin, chafing his white skin raw.

He had only been in treatment for a week. Before, they had made him drink all types of pills to see its ‘effectiveness’. Since there were no harsh side effects, they realized that ability users were immune to poisons. The pills they had fed him were filled with enough cyanide to kill hundreds of elephants.

So they went deeper, drugging his food making him fall asleep. And he woke up to himself strapped to a bed as they smiled happily. His space ability was passive, so they didn’t really care about that until later when they found it could purify things. No…they were experimenting on his body. Ability users had strong bodies, much more so than the average human.

So they started testing it out.

Song Yu did not remember much of that night.

By the time they finished, he had almost severed his own tongue, pleading for them to stop. All he remembered was the aftermath, where the metal cuffs had to be pried off his blood soaked body, some skin sticking to the metal. He was taken by burly men to his room and dropped on the bed like a lifeless sack. That was another experiment too. To see how long it took to heal.

Song Yu met Ye Xin that night. In the room, they brought in another person, his legs and neck bound by metal, and his gleaming black eyes filled with cold danger. They threw him in the room and left him to fend by himself.

Despite his metal impairments, Ye Xin took care of Song Yu’s wounds. That was the start of everything. Song Yu spent countless days in the cell with Ye Xin, dying and resurrecting. He met four other ability users. All of them were in similar states. But unlike him, they had active abilities.

When it was found out that he could purify things like water and food, the experiments became worse. When he was strapped to the bed, and in his peripherals he saw a zombie, he screamed and yelled and clawed at his shackles.

He felt IT as they forcefully opened his space. The decaying flesh entered his space, and Song Yu gagged in horror. He felt like he was EATING the zombie. He could taste how many people it had eaten, how long it had died, and its last vivid human memory.

The man in his space used to be a middle class family man. Had a wonderful wife and cute child. His last memory was of his child being ripped apart by his wife. Seeing the profuse amount of blood cascading from his child’s neck and his wife’s grizzly look as she sucked her own child dry, gnawing on her collarbone like a dog, it made him scream in pain.

Song Yu could feel his emotions, the despair, and the acceptance as his wife’s mouth made contact to his own, biting his lips off his face…

Song Yu’s screams could be heard everywhere. His body shivered as more of the zombie entered his space. The shackles broke as his body jerked, his eyes bulging, and his mouth open is horror. He froze in this demonic position, making some scientists scream in terror. He retched and vomited, as his powers amplified. The pureness of his space could not handle this.

The force opening his space broke and the zombie reappeared on the outside, but not as a whole. It came out like chunky liquid, its bones melting with its skin. Hairs and the remaining of his face were like goo as it flowed out of nowhere.

Song Yu fainted and didn’t wake up for a week.

By the time he woke up, Ye Xin had rallied up the other ability users to escape. Song Yu was broken both in body and spirit, so Ye Xin was the one who carried him as they escaped. Song Yu’s memory was blurry, but he did remember the Level 1 ice ability user as he used his keycards up the building.

Finally, he smelled the breeze of freedom and fainted on Ye Xin’s back. He woke up a day later in a car heading north. He was catatonic and mentally unstable. If it wasn’t for his comrades who helped him, he would have surely killed himself.

They six of them settled down somewhere far. After a year, they decided to make a base. They elected Song Yu on the reasons that he was the most knowledgeable and had the best ability to lead. And he was. He felt needed. He felt WANTED. He plunged himself in work, trying to build that small utopia that he sought in his mind. Of a world that used to be.

Paradise Base was born from his desperation. There were hardships, broken friendships, saddened loss, but the six of them were altogether united. That was what he thought. Maybe it was because he was selfless and gave too much, didn’t horde enough power and influence, but the dredges of resentment, hatred, and disgust could be felt in the bones of Paradise Base.

Song Yu’s inane dream was shattered that night he was dropped into the pit. Those five friends…Ye Xin watched as he died. And those nightmares weren’t of the zombies eating his flesh, but of those five friends eating him instead.

He couldn’t breathe because of this betrayal. They had suffered so much together. They were brothers, comrades, and survivors. Song Yu thought that.

He rubbed his head as he curled his body into a shrimp, and watched the rising sun. He could hear the small pitter patter of legs as it scratched his door. That little puppy was awake.

Song Yu got up and opened the door and locked gazes with the puppy. He twisted his head in wonderment before lolling his tongue in a goofy grin. Song Yu didn’t let it sleep with him because of his nightmares, he leaned down and rubbed his head lovingly.

“C’mon little boy. We still have so much to do.”

We got a drawing of Song Yu! This will be uploaded onto my Instagram and Twitter @bocchan132 

And yes, I drew this. And yes, I draw.