S2: E10 Part 1 - The Rift

S02-E10 Part 1: The Rift

[Intro music - 5 sec]

Narrator: Wake Of Corrosion Season 2 - Episode 10 Part 1: The Rift

[Radio Tuning]

[Muffled sounds can be heard as someone switches on a recording device and moves it into the correct position]

Prof Ryan: [spoken in a solemn voice] This is Professor Ryan of Bunker A:12. This is a public broadcast to any Survivors out there. Before I begin, please be aware that I advise listener discretion going forward, as some of the content of this broadcast can be unsettling or disturbing.

[SFX: Morse code] 

Ryan: [clears throat] Good evening survivors... I...God damn it. It seems as though Niyah got under the skin of some of our residents. Jesus, I can’t believe I’m having to say this. They’re gone. At least 10 people have gone.

The crack that opened up in the wall of our safe haven, that awful breach of our sanctity. It grew, the fissure became a rupture... became a hollow in the wall...became a rift. Nothing we did stopped it and everything we tried only endangered us more. The sound coming from the rift amplified and the spores in the air easily tripled. Still we carried on, still we kept the rest of A:12 secure. That is, until last night. Last night when the sirens blared us all awake at some ungodly hour and corridors echoed with the screams of panic. I worked to reassure those who could not do it for themselves. That is not to say that I was not terrified myself, for believe me, I surely was. But there are others in here who matter far more than me, others who need a rock to cling to in times like this.

It wasn’t until the alarms were shut off and the panic had subsided that I was able to consult George and the other engineers to find out just what had caused the hysteria.

He was hesitant at first, but it was clear he knew he had no other choice and lying certainly wasn’t an option. At some point during the night, he said, at least 10 residents breached the containment measures around the rift and had walked straight into the thing. Not a single one of them hesitated or looked back. I saw it for myself, of course, on the security footage before it cut out...I saw it survivors. I saw them step in and disappear through there. Not a single one of them has been seen since. We still don’t know if there has been anymore, it’s all panic.

And it’s all Niyah’s fault….no, it’s my fault.

If I hadn’t allowed her the air time, if I had just shut off the recording sooner...I let her get into my head, let her convince me she had something of value to share and look what happened! People are gone, likely dead. Because I was too hungry for knowledge, for answers. I never wanted any of this. Never wanted anyone to get hurt. And I still….[sighs] I still can’t get in touch with Claire on top of it all….On top of it all...[silence, pause] I hope she’s alright...Oh my God what I have done?

[takes a moment to collect himself]

Apologies Survivors, it’s all quite a lot at the moment. Despite...despite everything that has happened...is happening. I did manage to review some of our previous evidence and cross reference it with the knowledge gained from Claire. Assuming what Niyah said had even a scrap of truth, I think I have some semblance of an idea of what happened out there. But it’s just a theory at the moment and….well as an astronomer I feel ridiculous even suggesting such a thing as I did not think it was possible. Survivors...friends...The knowledge we have points towards there being some sort of cosmic event of unfathomable proportions. If the readings at Ralford were correct then, well it implies that the Andromeda galaxy has collided with our own. Whilst there were many theories of what would happen in such a situation or whether it would even occur, none of them came close to what is happening at the moment.

 I...well I feel a fool for even suggesting such a thing, but in the absence of anything so much as another suggestion of what could have happened. I’m inclined to believe this theory until proven otherwise. Of course, the implications of this are huge and their effects so far reaching that they’re beyond comprehension. Given what Claire and the brothers have encountered out there and what’s happening in here currently then I believe the creatures, rifts, destruction of so many places - not to mention the disappearance of huge swathes of people - must be all side effects of this convergence.

[heavy sigh]

I still can’t quite believe what I’m saying here. Regardless, I feel it is important that we press on with the brothers journey as we’re nearing the end of the current data I have on them. Please bear in mind friends that I am yet to review any of the remaining accounts and therefore, we’ll be discovering their fate together.

Let’s continue.

[SFX: Writing]

Elliot: If I look back now, at 2...3? Was it 3? I don’t know. But if I look back at our camping trip and our lives before it’s a blur. And I don’t mean like a blur of excitement or a busyness. It’s a fading memory, it’s nearly gone. I can’t picture my routine before all of this. My friends, the people I worked with. Any of it. It’s all just smudges of dull colour and likely mostly untrue. Like when you recall a dream, but you know you’re fabricating most of it to help it make sense. Life now is, run...hide...run...hide...desperation, fear, uncertainty - They are my fuel and I’m afraid they’re not going to be enough to get me through this next leg of the journey.

Safety isn’t really an option and hope is a fucking joke. So I guess I’ll just keep going because there isn’t much else out there really is there? Other than horrors bent on either killing us or toying with us, well I don’t even know what else.

So we decided to head to A:12, where that Professor guy was broadcasting from...the one Jim was listening to. We figured that it’s the only place where we’ve heard a sane person and given that all the others we’ve met have either gone mad, been mad or disappeared. Well it’s our only hope...There’s that curse of a word again. In theory it shouldn’t be a hard journey, of course, that’s in theory. But in reality, I just can’t see how we’re going to manage it, especially if anything happens to the one working vehicle we’ve found. I’m not sure whether you’ve heard Roman’s ramblings, but um, if you haven’t...well it’s snowing currently. Not only that, but it’s bloody cold as well. Like, finger numbingly cold and I don’t know why I don’t know how I mean it shouldn't be its Summer the end of Summer but Summer still and I’m not sure which I find more frightening the sudden biting cold or the complete lack of reasoning for it

Long story short, we’re not prepared for this at all. I mean, yeah, we’ve got hats with us and some waterproof clothing and some generally warmer stuff that we’d wear at night whilst camping. Still gets cold on Summer evenings and all that. But that’s the problem...it’s Summer...or at least it was Summer. So the majority of our clothes are suited to such weather. On top of all of that, we’ve been wearing the same unwashed clothes over and over now so everything has this worn out quality to it which isn’t comforting in the slightest.

Between the heavy snow, blocked roads and general corrosion of the place, finding our way to A:12 isn’t proving easy at all. I mean yeah, we’ve got a map and all of that but, nothing is really the same out here anymore. And no matter how many times Roman keeps telling me it can’t possibly be Winter or even Autumn yet, that doesn’t do much to explain why it’s getting dark at about 5pm does it? That alone is enough to hamper our journey especially when we have to drive at a snail's pace to avoid any snow covered hazards and all the time in between I have to claw at the edges of sleep whenever I can.

Every time I close my eyes I’m either worried I won’t wake up or worried I will. Both are equally as daunting. I’m not even sure what sleep is anymore. Every time it’s quiet, every time I close my eyes I can hear this...this sound somewhere at the back of my head. Like a voice pressed to the base of my skull. It’s as though my mind won’t let me hear what’s being said, no matter how much I strain. Last time it happened it was particularly invasive, there was a quality to it that really ate away at my patience. I absently started to scratch at the back of my neck and I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m sure I felt something under my skin move. I’ve tried to feel it again since but there’s nothing there. I even asked Roman to look, only checking after he’d laughed at me. There was nothing there. But I’ve noticed him touching his neck a lot since I mentioned it. I’ll not ask to check his. Best not.

So here we are. It Summer-Actually-Winter. In an isolated apocalypse, heading toward an unknown man in a bunker in the vein hopes that we don’t just bring all hell crashing down on us again. Fucking great.

I remember panicking over hearing things in the woods.

I remember flashes of that stag, so very, very long ago.

It all seems like nothing compared to my horror of a life now.

Like nothing. Like I am nothing. Just a mote of dust floating from one place to the next.

[SFX: Writing]

[SFX: Transition]

Ryan: I know how Elliot feels...the dwindling hope. As I’m sure you do too, Survivors. It’s important that we do not let fear rule us though. Despite our losses, despite our setbacks. We must continue. Even if we make dire...awful...mistakes along the way. There’s always hope. Always.

Our next entry is from Roman’s voice recorder I believe…

[SFX: Recording click]

[SFX: Car failing to start. No fuel]

[SFX: Howling wind]

Elliot: There’s nothing left Roman! I don’t know why you’re even bothering.

Roman: [defeated] Just...just start god damn you. Just start! Fuck, fucking fuck!!

Elliot: Roman, I’m recording.

Roman: Why? Fucking, why? Just turn it off!

Elliot: Because...this is important. It’s our next milestone.

Roman: Will you cut it out? Stop with the poetic bullshit. If you think running out of fuel and being stranded in an icy wasteland is worthy of a ‘milestone’ then you’ve gone completely mad! What are we supposed to do now? Ay? What?

Elliot: Try and syphon some fuel?

Roman: [sarcastic] Oh yeah, of course...with what exactly? You just gonna slurp it all up and squirt it into the tank? Is that what you’re gonna do oh fuel expert Elliot? Jesus...This is it Elliot. We’re totally done.

Elliot: Well, why don’t we house hop then?

Roman: What?

Elliot: Well, people’s houses are gonna be warmer than out there, so if we travel what we can and when we get too cold, we’ll take refuge in whatever house we can. There’s enough.

Roman: And what about the spaces in between? Or keeping warm whilst we’re in there?

Elliot: Well, we can start fires can’t we. I’m sure there will be plenty of fuel and as for the spaces in between...well...we’ll just have to make sure that we’re well stocked.

Roman: [laughs, desperation] Well stocked? Are you aware of just how little food we’ve got left?

Elliot: What do you mean?

Roman: Jesus, what planet are you on? We’ve barely got anything left, El! 

Elliot: But...people will have food...in their - in their houses, right?

Roman: Yeah, if it’s not already been taken or decimated.

Elliot: Fuck. Fuuuuuck. We have to get to A:12. We have to get there.

[SFX: Door opening]

Roman: Woah, dickhead. Slow down. Let’s get a few more layers on first and make sure we’re all buckled up and ready.

[SFX: General movements]

Elliot: How far is it?

Roman: I don’t know man, maybe 15, 20 miles? I’ll be honest I’m not entirely certain whereabouts we are anymore so it could be less.

Elliot: Or more.

Roman: Yeah that too. Either way, I don’t think we’ll make it all the way today. It’s already getting dark and I think we’ve got a greater risk of getting lost walking at night. That and if outside right now is anything to go by, it’ll be bloody freezing as well.

Elliot: Not to mention all the-

Roman: Yeah...you don’t have to say it. Right, let’s get some more layers on and head out. If we stick to the main roads and ‘house hop’ like you said, I think we should be alright. 

[SFX: General clothing rustle - Zips etc]

Elliot: Do you think this Ryan guy will be there?

Roman: Mate, I don’t even know what to think anymore other than just keep going, just keep moving. That’s all that’s in my head right now.

Elliot: Speaking of heads…

Roman: [sudden] What?

Elliot: You keep scratching the back of your neck and your hands...Is there anything going on?

Roman: [too quick] No...well...Yeah sort of.

Elliot: Go on…

Roman: It’s your bloody fault! Ever since you mentioned feeling something under your skin that time, it’s bloody got into my head hasn’t it. As in, I can’t stop thinking about it and it’s making me feel the same.

Elliot: So...just your imagination?

Roman: [serious] Yes Elliot.

Elliot: Alright. I don’t think mine was though…

Roman: Still…

Elliot: C’mon Ro, we breathed in so much of that shit down in A:7. Who knows what’s happened.

Roman: Jesus El, I’m surprised you haven’t been freaking out about it more if that’s what you thinks going on.

Elliot: I think I’m running dry on ‘Freaking Out’ ...I mean, what can I do about it now? It’s happened. It’s not like I can undo that. I just hope that a slight itch is the only side effect. You know?

Roman: Yeah...yeah I know.

[SFX: Rustled clothing movements and zips]

Roman: Right, ready?

Elliot: As I’ll ever be.

Roman: Onward we go then…

[SFX: Writing]

Elliot: I’ve never seen it this bad before. Not here. Not in England. The snow is getting deeper and deeper. For the last part of our journey my boots sank into it so much that it was falling inside. That’s the main reason we stopped: to try and dry our feet and stop our boots from getting too wet inside.

We’ve got a fire going now, managed to salvage a firepit from someone’s garden and drag it into another person’s house. I’m not sure we’ve got enough stuff to burn for the whole night. So much furniture is made from that cheap mdf stuff and it just burns up real quick. I consider it lucky that we found a few barbeque coals, but there’s really not many.

I’m going to try and describe the weather. [laughs] Wow, I never thought I’d still be doing something so stereotypically British in the apocalypse. I’ve never been in a blizzard or a snowstorm or anything like that, but I can’t imagine how they could be worse than what it’s like out there. It’s not really stopped snowing since we left A:7, but it was pretty light at first. Now...well now it’s a lot heavier and incredibly windy. Every step felt like ten as the wind whipped at our faces and the snow stabbed at our eyes every time we tried to look where we were going. The overpowering sound of the gusts made it impossible to hear one another which in turn made the journey feel awfully lonely and isolated. There were times where I was sure we were passing the same places over and over. It’s just so hard to tell, everything just has this dull white filter over it. Our journey was slowed further by the ever increasing depth of the snow. When every step was filled with uncertainty. Reminds me of this time we went gorge walking...you had to calculate every step you took in the river and test it first. Was the floor going to move? Was it lower or higher? Would it drop suddenly? That’s how it felt out there, on those undulating icy roads. I’d like to think it’ll be better tomorrow, that we might even make it to A:12, but uh…I just - I just don’t know.

I’m going to have to stop writing. My - My gloves have stopped doing their job, they’re completely soaked through. Obviously I didn't think to bring any waterproof ones. Even with the fire it’s biting cold on my head, hands and toes. I’ll see if I can get Roman to record something. I don’t know…I don’t know if he will

[SFX: Writing]

[SFX: Recorder click]

[SFX: Crackling fire. Howling wind. Waterproof coat movement]

Elliot: There, it’s on. We should keep saying what our plan is. Keep updating it.

Roman: And this is all in case something happens to us? It’s a bit morbid don’t you think El?

Elliot: Like you said bro...we’re playing the survival game now. As much as I hate to say it, you’re right.

Roman: So...Our plans then?

Elliot: Mhm.

Roman: Well, given that we’ve managed to hobble together some sort of fire and relative comfort…

Elliot: If by relative, you mean relative to living in the Arctic, then yeah.

Roman: Given that...We’re looking at at least a few more hours walk until we start to near A:12. Obviously, it’s really freaking hard to know where we’re going out there, both in the long and short term. I really hope it’s not as bad tomorrow. If I step off the curb and nearly break my ankle one more fucking time I swear…So that’s basically our plan. If by some miracle we find a snow plough or a random snowmobile lying around, I don’t think we’ll be travelling by vehicle any time soon.

Elliot: Reckon we’ll make it by tomorrow?

Roman: I bloody hope so. Look, [SFX: Bag movements] that’s all we’ve got. A few more nights mate and we’re done.

Elliot: Don’t - don’t remind me. Please.

Roman: We should get some rest.

Elliot: Agreed.

[SFX: Stop/Start - Fire]

Roman: I can’t feel my fucking toes. And every part of me I can feel aches. The fire is still going and Elliot seems to be fast asleep. That or he’s fucking dead [sad laugh] I shouldn’t of said that. [sighs] C’mon. C’mon.

[SFX: Start/Stop]

[long pause]

[SFX: Some sleeping bag movements, no fire then sudden alien howling sound]

Roman: Fuck. I don’t even know if this thing picked that up. [sighs] If this is the last recording. That thing’s got us.

[SFX: Howling again]

[SFX: Stop/Start]

[SFX: Rustling - Panicked Breaths - Movement - Close Alien Howl]

Roman: I’ve not slept yet. Haven’t heard that thing for a while but the fires out and it just keeps getting colder. [shudders]

[SFX: Closer Alien howl]

Roman: Ssh...sshh...It’s okay…[calming down sigh]

[SFX: Rustling - Panicked Breaths - Movement - Very close Alien Howl]

Roman: [panicked] Shit, Elliot - Elliot, wake up! Get up, fuck..fuck!

Elliot: What?

Roman: Grab your stuff, we gotta go.

[SFX: Movement - Alien howl]

Elliot: Fuck, fuck!

[SFX: Fast bag/rustling/panic movements - Heavy rapid footsteps - Door opening/banging shut - Howling wind - alien howl]

[panicked breathing from both]

[SFX: Abrupt recording stop]

[SFX: Radio]

Ryan: Given at this point we still have a few entries left, I would like to hope that it’s safe to assume Elliot and Roman manage to escape from this particular encounter. Although, we both know I can’t say for certain.

Before I go, I wanted to-

[SFX: Incoming radio transmission]

My God, it’s Claire! 

[SFX: Radio click]

Claire: [elated] Ryan! Ryan are you there? Over.

Ryan: Claire, it’s me. It’s so good to hear your voice. Are you alright?

Claire: I’m fine. [SFX: Radio crackle] In kind of  bad shape though. I’ve been trying to get it to work. Can you hear me okay?

Ryan: It’s not too bad, but the signal is affected a little. What happened to you? To the radio?

Claire: Ryan, I remember!

Ryan: Remember what Claire?

Claire:[Random radio crackles throughout section] I remember being with Roman and my family. Being a cop, how did I forget that? I remember driving here in all that panic, hearing the news stations blare out the same, mandated warnings. Ignoring all of them and racing here. To my friend, Sarah. I remember Ralford, the control room, before. Before all of this. I remember Sarah telling me the unthinkable had happened, the impossible. She said there was something more, something else that had reached out to her, to us. Then she...she leant against the wall with her coffee and just vanished. Straight through the solid drywall . Just gone. I ran...I ran to where she was and put my hands to the wall and I fell too. I fell and fell until I was nowhere. Until I was just in an ice cold field of snow. I had no idea why I was there or what made me run to that wall...or at least I didn’t at the time. I think... I think it was the fall that made me start to forget. I think it was that doorway. There’s another one [Radio crackle] But [radio crackle] has assured me it’ll be alright. I’m in a school with them, an old one. Ryan, there’s hope still. [crackle] there’s hope.

Ryan: Claire? Claire no! Claire, if you’re with who I think you are then you have to leave. You have to leave now! Niyah is not to be trusted, she has succumb to whatever evil is out there. [pause] Claire? Claire? [pause] Damn it. I must get in touch with her. I must find where this school is! It has to be near Ralford, it’s got to be. [SFX: Radio click] Claire, do you read me? Over. [pause] God damn it.

Survivors, I don’t even know what to say at this point. I’m gonna keep trying Claire on that channel. I sincerely hope she replies, even more so I hope that she’s not with who I think she is. The consequences of such a mistrust could be dire for her…I couldn’t forgive myself if anything were to happen.

Niyah, if you’re listening to this. Do not hurt her. She is just an innocent survivor looking for her family. You have to let her go!

[SFX: Paper slam]

[sighs, defeated]

I’m going to keep trying her contact her. Until then Survivors...Don’t wander in the dark.

[Credits]