S2: E10 Part 2 - What Happens After

S02-E10 Part 2: What Happens After

[Intro music - 5 sec]

Narrator: Wake Of Corrosion Season 2 - Episode 10 Part 2: What Happens After

[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: Still nothing, survivors...Still nothing from Claire or Niyah or anyone. I’ve managed to locate a few school buildings around the area of Ralford, but from here it’s just futile, regardless of whether I know which building it is or not. Short of leaving A:12 there’s really not much else I can do.

I’m not going to hide from you that it’s incredibly difficult at A:12 right now. More [sighs] More people have stepped through the rift here despite our best efforts to stop them, despite our warnings, despite the fact that no-one has come back. Perhaps...perhaps it is the lack of hope, the lack of anything different than these four walls...I don’t know. Our resolve to continue is rapidly decreasing and I fear for the safety of our residents, not only physically but mentally too. The toll of our ongoing loss is becoming unbearable. 

I still hold myself accountable for Niyah and allowing her air time. But I know I can’t keep wallowing in that despair, it’ll get me nowhere and right now...well right now finishing this broadcast might, just might. And past that? Well, we’ll see.

Before I begin with the remainder of the brother’s story, I’d like to send out one more message in the hopes that either Claire or Niyah will hear it. 

Claire, if you’re out there and you’re listening I hope you’re safe and I’m sorry I got you involved in this, I should’ve let you go and find your family, I shouldn’t have asked anything of you. If you’re able to get in touch, even to let me know you’re okay. Please do.

To Niya, I don’t know what your plan is here. Whether you meant to sow such discourse amongst the residents of A:12 and likely to our survivors further afield or your motives were more benign, I’m not sure. But if Claire or other innocent survivors are with you, I implore you, do the right thing. The moral thing. Deep down I know you know what that is. I do.

If anyone out there has any knowledge they’d like to share. Then now would be a good time.

[a pause]

I’ll continue with the brother’s story. We’re coming up on the end now, so...whatever happens, happens. We’ll be discovering this together.

[SFX: Shuffling papers]

Elliot: One more dash. One more. That’s all it should take. I think the last record we have of anything was running away last night, this morning...whenever it was. I’m going to give you a recount of that night. My right hand aches with the pain of missing fingers exacerbated by the ongoing cold. But I found a decent pair of gloves in someone’s house and I can just about manage writing in them. I’d say this is legible enough. I think. Either way we’re not recording anything, not until we reach A:12. The batteries are getting low, it seems like the cold is seeping power from them pretty rapidly, so...saving what we can. I want the last thing we record to be the voice of someone greeting us at A:12...that’s the last of my hope right there. If you needed to know.

So this morning, I don’t know what time it was, some ungodly hour that I shouldn’t have been awake...I mean, I wasn’t, until Roman shook me. When I was able to unstick my eyes and kick my brain into gear, I realised, I realised just how panicked Roman was. Then I heard the thing, the spider I’ll call it...I’ll explain...just, just give me a sec. All I could do was swear, I mean, looking back it just seems silly but that’s what you do when you’re afraid, you just shout profanities or go silent. Neither helps...well, okay maybe going silent would’ve helped but I didn’t have my most rational head on.

Just then I felt the kick of an adrenaline pulse through me and my rigidly cold body lurched to standing and I was on terrified auto-pilot shoving my sleeping bag into the straps of my backpack, like I’ve done so many times now. It’s almost second nature. Waking up in a cold fearful sweat is the norm.

I didn’t bother taking my shoes off when I slept, I stopped doing that a while ago. The longest thing it takes to get on? Shoes. The most likely thing to mess you up when you’re running away? Shoe laces. And that’s why I tie them up before I sleep, real tight. God, what have I become? Just, looking back at what I’ve written down here, I shouldn’t...urgh, nevermind.

The wind was howling a little less than the night before when we bolted out the front door, it was still bitingly cold but there were the smallest hints of a less stormy day approaching, a stillness returning to what was the rough white sea of last night. I remember being so very thankful that I’d spent time drying out my socks last night, only to go and step straight into shin deep snow in our rush to escape. Of all the things though, that really should’ve been the least of my concerns. But you know how it is, your brain always leaps to the stupidest things when it really ought to be focusing on something else. I get that a lot.

Do you know the saying that curiosity killed the cat? Well, I was nearly that cat. When you’re just running away from a sound, your mind flicks a little switch. A switch that says ‘I wonder what it is?’ a switch that says ‘Perhaps if I knew, I could get away from it better?’ And try and try it will to justify why you should find out just what horror it is you’re so afraid of. Despite the fact that there’s another, deeper rooted part of your lizard brain that says ‘Just. Fucking. Run’ but we all like to ignore our instincts don’t we? We think we’re better than that and that’s how we end up in these messes. That’s how Roman and I ended up alone in the first place, ignoring the signs and our lizard brains shouting about how very wrong it all was.

Anyway, the cat and the spider.

I’m the cat.

We were running down the street, weaving between crashed cars and snowdrifts, desperately looking for the path of least resistance. Roman stops a second to see which way’s best to go. Just a second, that’s all. And the curious temptation of peeking, looking behind. And down the street, I see nothing. Nothing but our footprints in the snow, the cars and white covered debris scattered about the place. I hear Roman make a sound of approval, a sign I should follow. But I just don’t do it. Because I just don’t see it. I don’t see what we’re running from. It’s all just white. Until, out of the corner of my right eye, I see something move ever so slightly. My body stays completely still...only my eyes shift slightly, up to the right. And there, about two houses down, stretched across nearly half of the house front, is what at first looks like a spider. In stark contrast to the utterly blinding white that’s all around, the spider has a black spindly body. With legs that pierce into the brick work, bent and poised. The insinuation of how long they could be at full stretch was sickening and even now I don’t know how many legs the thing had. I’m not going to say a number, it’d only give you an idea that was no doubt lower than the actual amount. They were like that of a millipede or something similar, but on a rounded body that curled up at the end into what I can only imagine was some sort of stinger, like a scorpion maybe. In the last moments I was able to see the thing, I caught sight of the part that I don’t believe I’ll ever forget. Its face. The front of its body reared up, like some sort of praying mantis but at the end of it, no insect-like head. But a human one. A human shaped skull with black tendrils splayed out from behind it like a halo of rotting vines. The thing must’ve known I was looking at it, for it inclined its head toward me, in that same way a dog does when it’s uncertain. But there was no innocence or curiosity in that head tilt. There was only hunger, like the cold focused stare of a panther fixated on its prey.

Only then did I hear Roman calling me name, by the way he sounded he must’ve said it a few times already. I turned and ran, knocking into him as I did causing him to slip down where the curb must have been, disguised by the thick snow. I instinctively reached down and yanked him back up again, pulling him up to my speed. He cried out in pain and cursed under his breath, but his focus on escaping remained. I could hear the thing now, the oily spider, preying on us. I could picture the thing tearing its way across the walls of houses. The flow of its movement is like the rush of a hundred feet across a crowded path, each moment bringing it closer and closer. 

In a moment of clarity I dragged Roman into an alleyway and headed down it, between the undulating garden walls and varying depths from the terraced house edges, I hoped to slow the thing down. It soon became clear that my efforts were only marginally successful. Even so, the alleyway proved to be hazardous in the current conditions. More uneven floor was hidden here, along with the debris of overturned black bins and general waste people had dumped over the years. It was as much a stroke of luck, than it was skill that we made it out the other side without breaking a leg.

Seeing that we were widening the gap, the thing leapt at us. I do not know how close it came. I do not want to know. But I distinctly recall hearing the sound of bricks cracking against one another from what I can only assume was the force of the thing launching itself off a wall. Followed by the dull thud of them disappearing into the deep snow. Then Roman and I, almost in unison holding our breaths, closing our eyes, tensing as we waited for our inevitable demise. Only instead to be greeted with dull clattering of plastic, metal and spindly body, followed by a piercing howling sound. Without looking back, we redoubled our efforts to put a good distance between us and our hunter. My legs burned with fatigue and my face burned with cold as we headed down a long set of steps between overhanging trees. When we finally reached the bottom, my shins aching with the repetition of leaping down so many steps, we dashed into the narrow subway passage that lay before us. Despite the fact that somewhere in my imagination it looked like a gaping maw ready to swallow us whole, I knew this place was too small for that creature...Or at least I hoped it was and that was enough to convince me to head inside. I stopped toward the end of it, clutching onto Roman indicating for him to do the same. ‘It’s too big’ I said, ‘The thing, it’s too big to make it through here, let’s stop’. But he wasn’t convinced. ‘We have to keep moving’ he said ‘This is the last stretch of our journey, I think we can make it before we have to rest’ ...He was, of course, wrong.

The injury he’d sustained when I ran into him really started to slow us down once the adrenaline wore off, that’s what did it really, what made it take another day. We haven’t seen or heard of that creature again since it made that leap at us. I don’t know what happened behind us, but I know that we’re incredibly lucky to have gotten away. I can still vividly recall the intense look of hunger permeating from that creature’s many eyes. I wish I’d never looked at it, I can’t stop seeing it now, lurking in the shadows...the shadows that seem to be everywhere. Always in the corner of my eye, but of course, there’s nothing there.

Speaking of shadows...we’ve yet to see any on this stretch of our journey. There’s not any sign of movement, animal or otherwise. We’d have seen it in the snow, but it’s not there. Everything is like those glorious first moments in the morning after heavy snowfall the night before. Blankets of untouched snow covering everything. But glorious isn’t at all the word to use to describe this experience...it’s eerie. Unsettling.

I’ve not been able to really rest where we’ve set up tonight. That’s why I’m writing this, I can’t, can’t settle. There’s an emptiness in my stomach that’s threatening to drive me mad and I’m convinced it’s working with the itch at the back of my neck. It happened again, a few minutes ago whilst I was writing...I felt something move back there, but Roman’s asleep and I know how precious sleep has become to both of us.

What if there is something under my skin? Something crawling around in that subcutaneous layer. Nothing more than a lump on the outside but who knows what underneath and doing who knows what. Sometimes, when I think about it too much...which, well for me is an awful lot of the time. I can imagine it working it’s way round my neck, and feeling it push out the tighter skin over my jawline. Seeing myself in the mirror raise my hand to my cheek, powerless to stop it. Desperately trying to stop it as the thing slides its way up to my eye and pushes its way out. Wriggling. Squirming. And it’s always oily and grey, like the husk growth.

I should stop, it’s, it’s not helping. I let my imagination become my reality too often and it’s unhealthy. 

I’ve moved to the window. We’re upstairs in this person's house, they’ve got a sort of den room set up which turned out to be the warmest place by far. Roman and I decided not to have a fire tonight, figuring that’s what attracted the spider-like thing before, even if it did choose to strike after the fire had already gone out...perhaps that’s why? Anyway, the window. It’s a clear night tonight, I didn't think the clouds would ever part but it seems as though the high winds swept them away to leave a beautiful night sky for us. For me. I remember a while ago, one night when I was panicked out of my mind, no doubt, I wrote in my book, where is it? There.  ‘There are so many stars, so many many stars’ in huge letters on a page of this journal. Only now has it dawned on me I’ve not really looked back up since. I mean sure, I’ve seen the night sky but I’ve never thought to really look, to even...check if its clear. It absolutely is now and it’s, well it’s magical to say the least. It’s hard to believe that after living in this snow-fuelled monochromatic wasteland for days that the night sky could be so vibrant. I’d almost forgot about such colour, such depth. And now I’m absolutely lost for words how to explain it. It’s like...Hm, imagine you’ve got a pool of still black liquid and you’ve dropped in this luminescent red food colouring that swirls and radiates in all directions as it hits the water. And along the way it flares and sparks with the most vibrant red pulses, like embers in a fire. Then in amongst the red you sprinkle fields of blue starlight that shimmer as clouds in all the gaps between the spiralling arms of crimson now hewn with a radiant aura of indigo. And finally, from deep within what remains of visible black liquid, these sunspots of yellow and fox-fur orange grow and compliment all the spaces inbetween. And what you're left with, what you're left with is this dance of colour and starlight sweeping across the pool of black like a theatre of the heavens. If this is all the beauty that’s left in the world, then at least I’m here with it. At least there’s that.

[long pause]

As much as I’ll miss the potential chance of this enchanting sky, all being well, this is our last night out here before A:12 and if it’s not. We’re done for. I’m going to try and get some rest now. Next time I write in this journal I’ll be in A:12, after being greeted at the door...that’s the last of my hope right there. In case you wanted to know…

[SFX: Radio]

Ryan: I don’t think I need to tell you Survivors that the brothers don’t make it here. Under what circumstances that happens, well we’re yet to find out. But I can’t help but feel a sense of sorrow here at Elliot’s entry. Although, it isn’t his final one, might I add. His description of the night sky, it matches...well it supports my earlier thoughts…that’s for sure. It’s as beautiful as it is unsettling to know that’s what the night sky could look like, providing his description is accurate, of course. Unfortunately, as I only have first hand accounts, I cannot speak of the brother’s mental stability in confidence. Even if it were the case that two galaxies had collided, what that means for our world, well I can’t even be certain. But I’m hauntingly reminded of something Sarah said, Claire’s friend at Raflord. I recall her saying something along the lines of a thing, an entity perhaps? That reached out from somewhere far away and touched us. She said it wouldn’t let go.

I wish, I wish I had proof of any of these things, some validity to go with it. Clutching at straws is a tiresome task. But I fear, I fear so strongly that there are forces at play here that are so wildly beyond our comprehension that I...we might never truly find out.

But listen Survivors, we must not lose hope here. Humans have lived for so long not knowing the true origin of life, only living with speculation instead. For what is life without great mysteries? We’re still here, we’re still alive and for now. For now that’s what matters.

We’ll finish up this broadcast with the final entry from Roman’s voice recorder. I’m in the dark here as much as your survivors, let’s begin.

[SFX: Recording start - Muffled microphone]

[SFX: Footsteps - Snapping twigs - Woodland]

Roman: [sound out of breath and worn out] Okay, it’s on. I’m fastening it to this strap on my bag though. My bloody hands are freezing.

Elliot: Yeah, good idea. Mine too. Glad the snow isn’t as deep here though. I [shudders] seriously hope they’ve got some food in there.

Roman: Could’ve done with it being a little deeper on the road outside though, am I right? The severed legs in the middle of the road were not something I wanted to see, frozen and half covered or not.

Elliot: Urgh, just mentioning them. 

Roman: Anyway, change of subject - I’m sure they will have plenty of food in A:12, even if there’s not anyone there.

Elliot: Don’t say that...there’s got to be. Right?

Roman: At this point [shudders], I-fuck it’s cold...I don’t know and I’d rather not speculate. I know what you mean though. The last few bits we ate didn’t really feel like much. I suppose that’s what [shudders] happens when you leave the dried pasta sachets till last.

Elliot: The cold isn’t helping. It’s like all of my energy is being sapped away. How’s your ankle?

Roman: Still killing me man, I’ll look properly when we’re inside. Should be just the other side of this woodland.

Elliot: Yup, we’ve gone past the entrance sign, so it’s just this woodland then there’ll be a fence just after, then a clearing, then A:12 so we should be able to see it as soon as we’re out the other side.

[SFX: Alien creature - Same as Claire heard]

Roman: Oh fuck. Ssh, stop. Stop.

[SFX: Heavy footsteps, branches snapping]

Roman: [quietly, you’re scared but in pain] Ah, shit shit. My hand! Aaah.

[SFX: Removing glove]

Roman: [too loud] Is…[quiet again] Can you see anything?

Elliot: Ssh. ssh.

[SFX: Louder heavy footsteps]

Roman: [heavy breathing, in pain]

[SFX: Footsteps growing distant]

Elliot: Okay, I think it’s gone. Lemme see.

Roman: I can see something….I can see it.

Elliot: [a long pause]

Roman: Say something!

Elliot: [sudden] Yes, yes okay. I can see something! It...that...I can see them!

Roman: Fuck, fuck! [SFX: Puts glove back on]

Elliot: What’re you doing?

Roman: Well I’m not staying out here any longer for these things to start creeping their way out of me to that monstrosity. We’re getting to A:12 and we’re heading inside. We can deal with this fucked up mess then.

Elliot: Alright, let’s go then. Quietly.

[SFX: Footsteps - Woodland]

Roman: Here we go, I can see the fence just up ahead.

Elliot: Yeah, same. Can’t see A:12 yet though.

[SFX: Footsteps]

Roman: There’s a gap in the fence on the left, see it? [pause] Let’s head there and slip through.

Elliot: Alright.

[SFX: Rapid footsteps]

Roman: Elliot…

Elliot: Yeah...I know what you’re gonna say.

[SFX: Chain Link fence movement]

Roman: [scared] Where the fuck is it?

Elliot: It...it should be here. Like, right in the middle of this clearing? Hold up

[SFX: Footsteps]

Elliot: Oh shit. Roman, come here. [SFX: Footsteps]

Roman: Elliot, Elliot that’s a crater. That’s an empty fucking crater.

Elliot: But I don’t...I don’t understand! How? How is that even possible? We heard the broadcast literally a couple of days ago! No...No, it has to be here. It has to be!

Roman: Elliot...stop.

Elliot: No Roman, it has to be here [continue whispering] It has to be here. It has to be here. It has to be here.

[SFX: Taking off bag etc]

Roman: What are you doing? [a pause] [SFX: Footsteps] Elliot, what are you doing?

Elliot: It has to be here! It has to be here, it has to be here etc.

[In this section Elliot walks away from Roman leaving his bag and journal behind. As Roman is shouting for Elliot to come back, Elliot enters the forest and Roman’s hands begin to itch and hurt. He removes his glove to reveal that the tendrils are once again growing out of his hand as he hears the sound of a creature in the distance. The tendrils shoot to the floor and pull him down]

Roman: Oi, no! You can’t just walk away. Elliot, it’s gone. There’s nothing here! This is where it should be. [getting louder, before shouting] A:12 doesn’t exist Elliot….Elliot….ELLIOT COME BACK, ELLIOT!! [a pause] For fucks sake, [breaking down a bit] it’s gone. It’s gone. It’s gone!

A:12 isn’t here. My children and my wife aren’t here. Elliot’s gone. There’s nothing. There’s fucking nothing. [SFX: Drops to knees] [SFX: Monster noise] Fuck! [cry in pain] my hand. [SFX: Takes glove off] What the, oh God. No, no! [shouting] ELLIOT! [cry in pain] Fuck, aaahh. ELLIOT WHERE ARE YOU?! Aaah, nonono, not again. No, no. NO! [SFX: Monster noise - Scuffle on the ground - Static, recording ends]

[Credits]



Elliot: Who...Who's there?       Oh      Okay      It's beautiful.