Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 74: Xaxel-9

Chapter 74: Xaxel-9

"Um, where are we going..."

Elliot followed the sarcastic man, his brows knit in concern, forced to carry a weird suitcase in his hands with his number written onto it.

Rusted shipping containers formed the walls of makeshift skyscrapers.

Solar panels, haphazardly mounted, clung to rooftops like ivy.

Giant LED signs flickered half-lit news reports in ten languages, stitched together from outdated AIs and forgotten corporate servers.

They walked across long, rusted metal grids that bridged these towering homes, the sky above as bleak as the steel around them.

"You’ll be calling me ’sir’ from now on, kid."

He didn’t even bother to look back.

With a quick hop down the steps, he vaulted over the corroded railings and dropped to the floor below.

The landing rang with a dull, metallic thud, kicking up a cloud of dust—and something darker.

Filthy water, maybe.

Or the residue of something worse.

"Sir?"

Elliot leaned over the edge, his glasses slipping down his nose as he watched the man continue without a care, leaving him behind to catch up—or not.

"You catch on quick."

"Seriously, where are we going?" Elliot wheezed, jogging to close the gap.

He barely managed to stop himself from colliding into the man when he halted suddenly, yet still he stumbled, off balance.

By the time he regained his footing, the man was staring down at him with a disapproving glare.

"...Sir—" Elliot mumbled, straightening.

With a sharp exhale, the man turned and started walking again.

Elliot trailed behind, now with a slight slump to his stride.

"Look," the man said, "long story short, you’re one of us now."

Elliot looked around, seeing many people just walking by, keeping to themselves, their heads as low as they could go, refusing to make eye contact.

He looked up to the billboard above, watching as people rioted on the streets, their signs high against the polluted sky.

「The people of Xaxel-9 are demanding a recount.

With the new government back from the blip incident, it seems that everyone wants back what they had and are unsatisfied with the changes and the negligence to the recent mysterious disappearances...」

"W-wait, what about Fiona and Tanaka..."

He stuttered on his words, confused and concerned about what was happening after being out for so long.

"What about ’em?"

He stopped to look at Elliot, his gaze emptied of care for his concern.

"They’re my partners!"

"Not anymore."

"You can’t be serious!" Elliot snapped, his words coming out louder than intended, only for the silence of the dead streets to take over.

He just stared, not saying a word in response to Elliot’s cry.

The boy looked down, his hands clenched into fists.

"Things changed since you disappeared," he said.

"The system, the politicians, how the universe sees itself. Our understanding of Anomalies has grown. Our morals... have changed."

"This is your job now, so deal with it."

Elliot’s hands balled into fists, but he dared not utter a word.

His superior leaned to the side in exasperation before turning to continue his stride.

"Come on, we got a job to do..."

Elliot hurried to catch up again, the metal beneath his feet groaning with each step.

He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it just as quickly.

Whatever he wanted to ask, it could wait.

They passed beneath a collapsed antenna tower, its bent legs jutting out like the skeleton of some dead insect.

Fires flickered in barrels near the walls, where tired eyes watched them pass—some wary, some calculating.

He stopped, watching the crowd of people as they passed.

This bleak city—it was dreadful to the point they blurred, all the same soulless husks as the next.

Elliot watched, confused about what he was watching for.

"There..."

Before Elliot could even ask what he was looking for, the man pushed off, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a gun.

The cadet’s eyes widened as he saw his finger rest on the trigger, and before he could say a word, he fired.

The gun recoiled in his grasp as a beam was shouted out between the crowd.

A man screamed in pain as it landed, blood gushing out of his shoulder as he fell back to the cold, diseased floor.

Everyone began to panic, swiftly running away to save their own lives, the man’s body squirming on the ground in a desperate attempt to stay alive, desperately gasping for air as the seconds passed by.

"What did you do?! H-he didn’t do anything and you just... you just—"

Elliot panicked, running up to see if he was all right.

He was a scrawny man, his collarbone prominent through his raggedy shirt. Pale green eyes stared over at the panicking cadet, his eyes starting to glaze over. Blood oozed between Elliot’s fingers as he desperately tried to suppress the wound.

"I suggest you move away from him..."

His superior spoke, scratching his brown hair as he watched the scene before him.

"What the hell..."

Elliot stumbled back, nearly dropping his suitcase.

The man’s chest split open with a wet crack, ribs tearing and warping into jagged, insectoid limbs.

A slick, glistening shape crawled out of the body—its skin like charred bone, its head too long, too narrow, and filled with rows of needle-like teeth.

It screeched, a horrible, metallic sound that rattled the air.

Elliot’s instincts kicked in.

He dove back just as the thing lunged at him, swiping with a clawed limb that tore through metal like paper.

The force knocked him onto his back.

He scrambled to his feet, fumbling for the sidearm on his belt—but it wasn’t there.

His suitcase.

He swung it up just in time to block another strike.

The impact jarred his bones, but the case held—barely.

"Don’t just stand there—help me!" He shouted toward his superior.

The man only raised an eyebrow, watching calmly from a distance, arms crossed.

"Consider this your test."

"What?!"

The creature lunged again.

"If you can’t deal with this thing..."

Elliot barely dodged the creature, being backed up against a nearby building, the nape of his neck pressing against the cold steel wall.

"Then you’re better off dead."

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