Darkness Depths

The wreckage spanned miles on the black sand beach. Varying sizes of metal and debris littered the surroundings as the Potestas came to a stop on its top. The metal groaned repeatedly, all over the large vessel. In the interior, the damage was insurmountable. Entire supports collapsed, and rooms were in destructive disarray. Gas leaks were sprung, and flooding was rampant on the lower decks. Electric components were broken yet still had electricity coursing through its wiring. Fires broke out, blocking off exits and further making the submarine hazardous.
Juliet opened the utility closet’s door, and looked out to see her surroundings.
“A little banged up, but we can walk around fine.” Juliet described to Jess.
“That’s good. Think we can go back to your room and get out packs? The first aid kits will help my shoulder a lot.” Jess inquired as she gripped her shoulder.
“Yeah, it should be easy. As long as furniture doesn’t unbolt and fall on me, I’ll be okay.”
Juliet stepped out of the closet and jogged to her room, which was now on the right side of the hall. Jess exited the closet behind her, but took her time getting to the bedroom. The young adventurer vaulted over the obstacle and dropped a few feet onto the ceiling. She located the backpacks ten feet away and moved in to collect them. Juliet looked above to see if any of the bolted down furniture was about to collapse, but to her pleasure, everything was fine. Juliet pulled off the blanket partially covering the bags and opened one, taking out a first aid kit. She then hoisted the two packs over her shoulders and called out to Jess.
“I got them! And I took out the first aid kit. We’ll get you patched…” Juliet halted as a crack interrupted her sentence. The bed above her then broke from the floor, speeding to the youth. Juliet leaped out of the way, but then more of her room started falling down.
“Juliet get out of there!” Jess dictated.
Juliet continued rolling and leaping from point to point, escaping death by mere seconds. The youth then made it back to the door way and pushed herself up using the wall, vaulting over the former top of the door. Juliet slumped to the ground, letting out a huge sigh of relief.
“We need to get out of here.” Juliet groaned, giving the kit to Jess.
“But we have no idea where we are!” Jess pointed out.
“It seems like we landed somewhere without water.”
“We’re in the ocean! There’s water everywhere!”
“Yeah but Jess, we crashed. If we would have crashed in the ocean, the entire submarine would be flooded by now, and everyone would be dead from the pressure. But notice how none of that has happened.”
“You don’t mean we…?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. We did it. We found Atlantis.”
“My God…My God this is wonderful. We actually did it! Alright, we need to get to the bridge. Hopefully Clairette is alright. Abioye can take care of himself, so I know he’s okay. If we can get to a radio, and tell everyone to mobilize outside the sub, we can get a game plan going. Maybe a couple of Walkers too.”
Juliet stood up, and pulled Jess along with her. Jess managed to stitch her shoulder and stop the bleeding, and spread some of the ointment Abioye provided for her just in case.
The two women carefully stepped through the corridor, weary of any obstacle that could present itself. Elsewhere on the Potestas, Abioye dug himself out of a pile of rubble. He collected his bag of medical supplies and walked out of the medical bay, almost completely destroyed by the crash. He put on his rebreather as a precaution, and walked to Jess’s lab. Abioye moved around broken beams and metal girders, and passed dead bodies of his fellow crew.
As he neared Jess’s lab, he heard movement. A clanking noise along with a grunt of discomfort.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Abioye called out, tilting his head to try and gain a view of the lab.
“Yes! Are you the doctor! I think I broke my leg. It’s…It’s pinned…agh…pinned under this contraption.” The man explained in pain.
But then Abioye heard a louder clank, and the man came tumbling out, yelling in displeasure. From the angle, it seemed he was pinned on what was now the roof, which means the contraption was still up there as well.
“Are you able to stand at all?” Abioye asked as he tried making his way to the man.
“I just need a little support. And I’m sure you can…NO, NO!” The man screamed as the contraption crashed into him, splattering him against the wall. Abioye cringed at the sight, but noticed what killed the man. It was a grand metal suit, that one would pilot rather than wear.
“I’ll be damned, Jess. Your bloody thing just killed a man. But it might just get me out of here.” Abioye mumbled.
Abioye opened the cockpit to the mechanical suit and entered, able to just barely fit inside with his medical bag.
“Hopefully this thing works.” Abioye flipped the start switch, and the machine whirled to life. He moved his arms into the suit’s, controlling a drill and clamp with his human and mechanical arm. He pushed himself up, and brought the vehicle to its feet.
“Let’s see what this thing can do.” Abioye stormed through the corridor, slowly but menacingly. Soon, he found a weak point in the submarine, and activated the drill. His face lit up as the drill worked to his expectations, clearing a path for him to walk out into what lies for him outside.

. . .

Ms. Wilson awoke from her unconsciousness and looked around her. She was still in the air lock chamber, but felt a strange sensation as to their location.
The intercom crackled, but then came to live.
“If anyone can hear me, get out of the submarine. I repeat, get out of the submarine and meet up at the front of it. We made it. We all made it. Any capable of driving a Walker and has access to one, pilot it out of the Hangar. Anthony has rigged it to open.” Juliet’s voice instructed clearly and calmly.
“We…we made it?” Ms. Wilson stammered. She slammed her fist onto the emergency release button and rolled out, falling to the black sand below. The life line, still attached, stopped her from colliding with the ground and silencing her life.
Once she deemed it safe to remove the line, Ms. Wilson pulled it off, and landed in the black sands. She crumpled for some seconds as she embraced the pain. Melanie then opened her eyes to see the black sands. She stood up slowly, and looked to her right. In the near distance she saw multiple dark towers, colored dark blue and black. The structures looked inhuman, but Ms. Wilson knew that they had all made it. They had reached Atlantis.
Ms. Wilson removed the pressure suit’s helmet and was surprised by the cool wind blowing. The wind had a strange quality similar to the red water, in that it was both cool and hot. The woman walked along the beach, following the downed submarine, taking in the sights. The skies were black, both from the sphere they entered and from the menacing clouds overhead. There was, to Ms. Wilson’s curiosity, a characteristic of light that in a sense illuminated everything. It was like judgment, cold and harsh. No matter where you were, your sins would be illuminated.
After about 15 minutes, Ms. Wilson reached the front of the submarine. She saw Juliet, Jess, Clairette, and a mechanized machine standing with them. From the back of the Potestas, Ms. Wilson heard a handful of Walkers stepping on the beach. Climbing out of the bridge, Ms. Wilson spotted the mercenary, as well as a few soldiers behind him.
“I see you all made it out alright.” Ms. Wilson observed with a smile.
“Yep. We’re fine. Where’s Jacob?” Juliet noticed that the historian wasn’t with the blonde explorer.
“He died on our way here.”
“Ms. Wilson, I retrieved your back pack.” Anthony interjected, handing her the pack.
“Ah, thank you. Let me take off this suit first. So the air is fine, seeing that you’re not using your rebreather like the rest of them.”
“Didn’t think it necessary, ma’am.”
“How many vehicles do we have operating?”
“We have nine walkers, two cargo trucks, and a weapons truck. That’s it.”
“We’ll make do.”
“The plan, Miss?” Jess crossed her arms, staring at Ms. Wilson.
“Isn’t it obvious? We’re going on in. Get some weapons from the truck. We’ll be splitting into several teams. Juliet, Jess, and Abioye, you three take three soldiers. Clairette, Anthony, you take four.”
“What about you, Ms. Wilson?” Juliet questioned, as she walked to the weapons truck.
“I’m taking four soldiers. I saw some walking this way when I was.”
The team members went off to the weapons truck and chose their weapons once the discussion was done. The soldiers didn’t need any, as they were already locked and loaded, with large canisters on their backs and rifles in their hands.
Juliet picked to rapid-fire pistols that fired both ray bolts and practical ammunition. She wrapped a cartridge belt around her body and moved out of the way for others to collect their weapons. Jess remained out of the way, choosing her gauntlets over any other weapon. Abioye exited the vehicle he was in and chose a high-powered shotgun, capable of firing incendiary ammunition. Clairette decided on a chain rifle with an electricity beam and a projectile bayonet. Anthony loaded up with all he could carry and still maintain decent mobility. He strapped a grenade launcher to his back, a compact ray rifle to his left thigh, two pistols, and a chain gun, ready for anything.
“That’s a bit…much.” Juliet commented, a little skeptical.
“To you, maybe.” Braddock grunted, letting Ms. Wilson pick her weapon.
She hefted out a long-range rifle, complete with golden accents.
“I call it the Widow-Killer. It’s so powerful, that some have said it can kill even the widow of a man who was just shot by it.” Admired Ms. Wilson.
“Did you find it?”
“No…I made it.”
The group stood in awe, but not for long. They, together, began travelling to the front of the massive city, after Ms. Wilson instructed the Walkers and Trucks to split up and scan the beaches.
They scaled craggy and jagged rocks, struggling to reach the entrance to the actual kingdom. The convoys repeatedly checked in to Ms. Wilson, reporting all-clears every mile.
Juliet climbed and climbed, and was the first to make it to the top. She pulled herself onto level ground and was floored by the cityscape. In the center was an expansive yet disturbing castle, and surrounding the castle are broken down buildings, significantly smaller and shorter than the castle. To Juliet, it’s as if the castle was the city, and the buildings surrounding it were just small accents.
“My God, it’s…it’s really a sight to see.” Jess was amazed, yet she didn’t admit the castle inspired terror in her heart.
“That’s where we’re going.” Ms. Wilson smiled, sliding down to the city floor.
“Here goes everything.” Followed Abioye.