Chapter 3 — Solo Apocalypse

We or I, depending on someone saw it, moved cautiously through the underground wing.

I’d thought the underground labs would be infested with those ugly green things. It turned out it was alone. Nothing had come looking for it. When that became clear, the objective shifted to protection or shelter.

My clone took up point, both of us hesitant at every door. Him less so. Earlier, there’d been something in one of the labs strong enough to make an audible knock on thick steel. We’d left that particular room alone, venturing down the laboratory wing, and too fearful to try another sealed door.

The lights above flickered ominously.

I realized between me and my other self, I needed no words. It was nothing in any language I was familiar with. A telepathic intuition that proved itself over and over in the small time I had created him. We were, inexplicably, synced.

My head hurt.

We pushed down the hallway, clone taking up point. He turned right, then turned left. And from five meters behind, it was like I already knew what was up ahead. My other self didn’t turn to me in surprise, seeking a reaction or communicating anything significant.

Instead, I

We started with that. I deemed watching the cave of less risk than opening a door, which spoke to the danger I felt. My clone took to the second task. It was a strange telepathic perspective as he opened the storage closet, bracing. Instead of a clawing monster or instantaneous death, a chest that was glowing green, a richer shade than my pale eyes.

There was that notification again. That chime in my mind. It was something between spoken, written, and felt, and none of them at all. A simple, sudden, knowing.

The

It didn’t take long to decide what to do.

My clone opened it, unafraid of traps or danger that might’ve given me pause. He sat on his knees, undid the latches, and opened up the box of light. The glow faded as he did so, revealing the item within.

It was a backpack made of black leather or hide. That was it. In terms of valuables, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. It certainly didn’t detract from the feeling of constant vulnerability and exposure.

Staring into the cave system, I imagined something moving. Figures behind the stalagmites, eyes in the darkness. It wasn’t safe here. But it was this or the campus.

I was torn, shocked into indecision. Hesitance born of fear.

I took the bag from my other self. “It’s lighter than it has any right to be.” He whispered. “And… I think it’s bigger on the inside.”

Though I already knew it, I think we both knew I needed someone to talk to, even if it was myself.

I took the description in stride, trying to make sense of everything, seeing where this fit into my survival. “It’s good for supplies,” I muttered, regarding the description as it appeared in my mind. It was more than just sight that communicated what the

I had looked at my

I looked to my clone. “I guess you don’t count.”

The other me shrugged. “Technically, we are solo. Kind of.”

“So

I stepped to the left, leaving another of myself behind. And suddenly there were three of me. He looked at both of us and all three of us intoned. “Weird.”

Evahn the Third asked the question on my own mind. “Can you do it again?”

I tried but three me’s seemed to be the limit. Right now, at least. I couldn’t tell what governed that limit but there was a sneaking suspicion.

That instinctual knowledge guided me and I had the sense that

More details appeared. “Interesting. So you guys have half my physical capability but you keep everything else.” I said to myself. Myselves.

“The fact Perception is retained seems the most crucial. More eyes, more information.” Evahn the Second added.

“Something we’re lacking,” I replied softly, looking at the cave. I shifted my mental perspective of myselves, naming them Second and Third.

They didn’t need anything more to figure out what I was planning. A single glance at the cave, an idea, and the two were suddenly in a very intense match of rock-paper-scissors.

Second ended up losing. He exhaled but didn’t argue or dally. Then with a glance at us, he started creeping into the cave. A forward scout. Expendable. Ideal. I felt bad about sending myself to his doom but I realized I, that is,

I tracked his progress in that strange telepathic perspective. A second set of eyes. Third had taken to watching the intersecting hallway for anything that might have followed us.

I glanced at him. “Can you see what Second does? The same way I do?”

“Yeah. He’s moving between the stalagmites.” He took inhaled sharply, having seen what I saw. “I thought that was a puddle.”

We all did. But Second smelled the iron wafting up from the liquid. Too dark for any of the red color to appear. Blood.

The initial ‘lobby’ of the cave was empty save for that. He’d walked the perimeter and noted the tunnels—of which there were many—that led in every direction. He chose one at random and continued upward, seeking the surface.

A breeze of air.

Then he died.

My perspective snapped back to my own self, so sucked into his eyes that I slammed back into the wall. Hyperventilating, wide-eyes looking around, feeling at my throat, my torso.

I sat, paralyzed, and realized I was screaming.