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The Whole Nine Yards · InkandNeon | Speculative Fiction Stories

• 0:02
  Too sorry lad did not see you there. I suppose
• 0:06
  you missed last call. Oh Yeah, sorry about that.
• 0:10
  I'll be going now hold up I Knew that voice You're
• 0:18
  probably mistaken I know you I Know that yeah
• 0:24
  I'll call for it conspiracy perhaps. That's you
• 0:28
  right not my finest line i guess oh welcome to
• 0:36
  my fine establishment my name's russell and they
• 0:42
  see a bar belonging to me my father is father's
• 0:46
  father they're nine yards that's yeah i read
• 0:50
  the sign i sorry i'll go get out of your way
• 0:53
  why are you so gloat you look like you've just
• 0:57
  been hit in the face by a terran vessel It's
• 1:02
  been a long week, I guess. Well then, I've got
• 1:05
  you covered. Sit down. Let me get you something
• 1:08
  special. You really don't have to do that. It's
• 1:12
  on the house. Besides, who's got a dog on you,
• 1:15
  eh? I'll be right back. Don't you go leaving
• 1:19
  on me. Alright, here we are. Oh, that's good,
• 1:32
  isn't it? You've been able to take a load off.
• 1:36
  Yeah, I suppose it is. What brings you down here?
• 1:41
  Prefer not to say. Ah, tell you what, you and
• 1:44
  me are just two mates having a drink at the end
• 1:48
  of the night before the first cycle begins. How
• 1:51
  about that? It's been a while. Hey, whatever
• 1:54
  happened to that girl? The one that followed
• 1:56
  you home? Neon? Uh... I don't think I'm going
• 2:00
  to answer that. Don't forget, don't forget. Sorry
• 2:03
  lad. Well, I don't mean to distract you with
• 2:06
  a little story of my own. That's what you do,
• 2:08
  right? I mean, it's not only stories, it's people's
• 2:14
  lives and the history of this place. Well, I've
• 2:18
  got a lot of history for you. You see this old
• 2:21
  bag of bolts? I've been around for nearly 170
• 2:25
  years. My father? live to 171 every single part
• 2:30
  of this exact copy of what's inside me. So you're
• 2:34
  going to die soon? I think I've got about the
• 2:38
  exact same time left. You don't seem to destroy
• 2:40
  it over that fact. At this point death would
• 2:48
  be a relief. So this um this story what is it?
• 2:52
  Ah now all right where to begin? I'm guessing
• 2:57
  you're pretty new to Coral City, right? And definitely
• 3:00
  new to the trenches. You could say that. Well,
• 3:05
  things weren't always like this. We weren't always
• 3:07
  at each other's throats. Trying to scrape by
• 3:11
  and you only have one man to thank for that.
• 3:14
  The Rat King? No, no. One man to thank for the
• 3:18
  peace. More people only ever remember the war.
• 3:22
  But there was a man, as tall as he was wide.
• 3:25
  As intimidating as he was charismatic, he was
• 3:29
  the leader of the Numbeth Dead. You've probably
• 3:32
  heard of them. A bunch of elite soldiers, ex
• 3:35
  -corporate types, dumped here after the dissolution
• 3:39
  of the military. Yeah, I've heard of them. Of
• 3:42
  15? He's a legend worth hearing about. He challenged
• 3:46
  the Rat King in this place, down by the Cathedral
• 3:49
  of Saints. That's something I'm sure you've seen.
• 3:53
  the bright blue dome that looms over the entire
• 3:56
  district cast its pale shadow across everything
• 4:00
  else i have seen that yeah is it dangerous then
• 4:05
  it'll kill you that dome wasn't always there
• 4:09
  30 years ago the rat king had had enough he was
• 4:12
  sick of the numbered dead they were gaining more
• 4:15
  and more control and with it he was losing his
• 4:18
  grip on this city why he wants such a place is
• 4:21
  beyond me but It's not my place to know. All
• 4:24
  I remember was the number dead. The way they
• 4:27
  fought back the tide. The very streets erupted
• 4:30
  in a blaze of gnashing teeth that many have stored
• 4:34
  in a distant memory. But your boy doesn't forget.
• 4:37
  Fifteen was a good man. Kind to everyone. Think
• 4:40
  he even had a daughter. This little white haired
• 4:43
  girl. I don't know whatever became of her. and
• 4:45
  she always had to wear a blindfold. 15 would
• 4:48
  say it was because she hadn't gotten her augmentations
• 4:51
  yet, her eyes had never adjusted properly to
• 4:53
  the light. Nice, she used to bump into things.
• 4:56
  Whether it was a truth or not, it doesn't matter.
• 4:58
  There's not a lot someone wouldn't do to protect
• 5:00
  their child. And to wonder what became of that
• 5:03
  girl, she probably died when the rest did, when
• 5:06
  that big blue dome appeared. We all felt it.
• 5:09
  was like a great restart. We woke up hours later
• 5:12
  after the pulse hit us. I remember being one
• 5:15
  of the first down there to see what had happened.
• 5:18
  Tens of thousands of rats laid dead. The survivors
• 5:21
  didn't even bother to drag their bodies back
• 5:23
  down into their nightmarish burrows. You could
• 5:26
  see rings of steel formed in the streets where
• 5:30
  the numbered dead laid down thousands of the
• 5:33
  rats. And then that's when we noticed the shadows.
• 5:38
  They were bodies stuck in some kind of perpetual
• 5:41
  paralysis, caked in dust, and on the walls it
• 5:45
  was like their very shadows were burnt into the
• 5:47
  steel and the concrete. I still have nightmares
• 5:50
  of when you would hear them, like the faint last
• 5:53
  breath leaving their mouths, an agonizing scream.
• 5:56
  That was why I think they stuck with me the most.
• 6:03
  The young woman, her ankle just caught within
• 6:05
  the door was reached, barely her whole body.
• 6:08
  was frozen her lips barely quivering she muttered
• 6:11
  something i can't remember what she said to me
• 6:14
  but then her eyes just stopped you could see
• 6:19
  half of her shadow scalded along the ground we
• 6:21
  go there some days to see what remains of her
• 6:24
  nothing save for that piece of ankle stuck within
• 6:27
  the dome so you're saying barley the rat king's
• 6:30
  pointless then standing up install this what's
• 6:35
  the point right therein lies the point you see
• 6:39
  the number dead were small but they knew what
• 6:42
  they were doing they tried to make this world
• 6:45
  a better place more so than the other layers
• 6:47
  ever did and it angered the wrath king i don't
• 6:50
  know what powers he held but i think it also
• 6:53
  angered those above did not see a single ccpt
• 6:57
  officer out there fighting nothing not even those
• 7:00
  guns above us the ones that were said to protect
• 7:04
  us fired off a single round the number dead they
• 7:07
  had each other and I think that anchored the
• 7:09
  Rat King and pretty sure the number dead almost
• 7:12
  won maybe that's why they don't miss their some
• 7:16
  kind of weapon of mass destruction the Rat King's
• 7:20
  last resort I swear I would think he was dead
• 7:23
  if it wasn't for when you press your ears against
• 7:26
  the wall that all hope abandoned you you can
• 7:30
  hear a snickering laughter he's still laughs
• 7:34
  holds pride in his heart from what he had done
• 7:37
  but it's a mask i choose to believe anyway he
• 7:40
  doesn't want to admit how close he came to defeat
• 7:43
  because the number dead taught us one thing that
• 7:46
  if we all stick together we don't forget the
• 7:49
  sacrifices we can't strike a god i'll um take
• 7:54
  it under advisement oh you're a good lad hink
• 7:57
  just uh don't broadcast this I don't have much
• 8:01
  of a life left so if they come for me then well
• 8:06
  they're only going to expedite the process but
• 8:09
  you you have someone you need to look after now
• 8:11
  and you can't run away from her even if it might
• 8:15
  feel like the easy thing to do even if she's
• 8:17
  not entirely human you need to be there get me?
• 8:21
  I do you need to be there I understand I will
• 8:25
  I understand there's a lad now this meeting never
• 8:29
  happened I'll go along my way and you go on yours.
• 8:33
  If you'd like to stay here until you're sober
• 8:35
  up, then be my guest. Keep up the good fight.
• 8:38
  It might feel like the city is quiet, but there
• 8:41
  are ears. People are listening. Good night, Ink.
• 8:44
  Good luck.