Death Stranding - Death Stranding: The Official Novelization – Volume 2 E-Book

Hitori Nojima

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Death Stranding
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 429

Beschreibung

The second volume of the official novelization of Death Stranding, the new franchise from legendary game-creator Hideo Kojima.Mysterious explosions have rocked the planet, setting off a series of supernatural phenomena known as the Death Stranding. Spectral creatures that devour the living have pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, causing countries to fall and survivors to scatter and live in pockets of isolation. Sam Porter Bridges, the legendary porter with the ability to return from the world of the dead, has been entrusted to save mankind from the brink of destruction. Plagued by haunting visions, and tracked by Higgs, a man who longs to see humanity extinct, Sam must finally discover the truth behind the Death Stranding and fate of this world.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Leave us a review

Copyright

Characters

Vocabulary

Episode VII – Deadman

Episode VIII – Clifford

Episode IX – Heartman

Episode X – Higgs

Episode XI – Die-Hardman

Episode XII – Clifford Unger

Episode XIII – Bridges

Episode XIV – Sam Strand

Epilogue I

Epilogue II

DEATHSTRANDING02

DEATH STRANDING

Volume One

DEATH STRANDINGVolume Two

DEATHSTRANDING02

BY HITORI NOJIMABASED ON THE GAME BY HIDEO KOJIMATRANSLATED BY CARLEY RADFORD

TITAN BOOKS

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Death Stranding: Volume Two

Print edition ISBN: 9781789095784

E-book edition ISBN: 9781789096590

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP.

www.titanbooks.com

First edition: February 2021

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Death Stranding by Hideo Kojima/Hitori Nojima

Copyright © 2019 Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

Created and developed by KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.

All rights reserved.

Cover illustration by Pablo Uchida

Original Japanese edition published in 2019 by SHINCHOSHA Publishing Co., Ltd.

English translation rights arranged with SHINCHOSHA Publishing Co., Ltd. through The English Agency Japan Ltd.

English translation copyrights © 2021 by Titan Publishing Group Ltd.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

Carley Radford asserts the moral right to be identified as the translator of this work.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

CHARACTERS

Sam Porter Bridges - A “porter” who has rejoined Bridges for the first time in ten years. He is heading west as Bridges II.

Amelie - The leader of Bridges I, who went out west to rebuild America. She is currently being held in Edge Knot City.

Bridget Strand - The last President of the United States of America. She has devoted herself to rebuilding the UCA to reconnect a broken world.

Die-Hardman - The director of Bridges, an organization created specifically to rebuild America. A close associate of Bridget.

Deadman - A member of Bridges and an ex-coroner. He is in charge of BB maintenance among other things.

Mama - A mechanic from Bridges involved in the development of the Q-pid and Chiral Network.

Heartman - A member of Bridges who hopes to unravel the mysteries surrounding the Death Stranding and the Beach.

Fragile - The young, female leader of the private delivery organization Fragile Express.

Higgs - A member of Homo Demens who is trying to prevent the rebuilding of America and accelerate human extinction.

Unger - A mysterious man who wants the BB.

VOCABULARY

Bridges - An organization created by the last President of the United States of America, Bridget Strand, for the sole purpose of reconnecting all of the disjointed cities and people across the ex-USA and rebuilding America.

Death Stranding - A mysterious phenomenon that affected the entire world. When antimatter stranded from the world of the dead comes into contact with the living, it causes a voidout.

BB - Bridge Babies. Artificially created “equipment” that allows its users to sense the presence of the dead.

DEADMAN(continued)

Once the winds calmed, the force of the snow flurries finally weakened. The black clouds that hung in the air all around Sam, that had seemed close enough to touch, had dissipated, but the sun was still nowhere to be seen. It had been four days since Sam had left Mountain Knot City and he had finally reached the highest peak in the mountain range. Despite the detour, he was relieved to discover that his path would indeed lead him over the summit. Yet once he reached the top of the peak that stood thousands of meters above sea level, he still found he could not see beyond the pale veil that covered the sky and obscured the world on the other side. It seemed impossible to him that a vast blue sky stretched out just beyond the clouds, slowly fading into the jet-blackness of space.

Sam remembered a conversation that he had with Bridget as a child. It was the one in which she told him all about their ancestors’ expedition toward the western frontier. About how once they had reached the western frontier, they then carried on and aimed for the next frontier—space. Finally, once they had conquered the last physical frontier, they embarked upon a quest for the electronic frontier of networks and cyberspace. “Listen, Sam,” Bridget started. “The Strand family all come from a single ancestor, who was among the first to reach America. Cultivating new places and building the infrastructure to give other people a future is in our blood. It was our ancestors who were the first to build a bridge to the island of Manhattan. That’s why I want you to build bridges, too.”

How naïve Sam Strand had been back then as he obediently nodded and promised her that he would.

But the path to space was now closed and the bridge they were now trying to build was to the world of the dead. Was that the new final frontier?

The Chiral Network was an amalgam of a network and the world of the dead. Lockne had told him all about it. A member of Bridges, she was the younger twin sister of the theoretical physics expert Mama and the co-developer of the Q-pid.

“I don’t think it’s meaningless for the Chiral Network to access the world of the dead and bring back the past we lost and everything that went with it,” Lockne had once explained. “We need to reclaim the knowledge that the Death Stranding stole from us, but if that’s all we do, then what are we doing but staring down memory lane? We run the risk of becoming bound by the past, just like Målingen and I were bound by our daughter.

“Mountain Knot City may now be a knot on the Chiral Network, but that doesn’t mean I want to go back to Bridges. I need some time to think,” Lockne told Sam. Now that Lockne and Mama had managed to untangle themselves from the estrangement caused by the misunderstanding about their dead daughter, Lockne had new paths open to her. Sam wondered what kind of options he had now.

He looked down at the empty void on his chest.

Lou, the BB whose pod normally occupied that area, was with Deadman for repairs. All that was left was empty space. Even when the repairs were complete, the pod that would be returned to Sam would no longer contain Lou, but a blank BB with no memories. There had been no other choice. And now, on top of that, Sam found himself dwelling on Deadman’s news about the shadier side of Bridges. What was he supposed to do about the fact that Bridget had carried on the BB experiments in secret? What about the past of Die-Hardman, who served her? It seemed that for now, the only option open to him was to pretend like he hadn’t heard anything and carry on with his task of transporting goods and reconnecting the Network as he went west in search of Amelie.

That was why he had battled the winds and traipsed all the way up the sides of these snow-capped peaks.

While Deadman was busy repairing Lou, Sam was to summit the mountains and head west from the direction of Mountain Knot City, to deliver some chiral allergy medication to the Geologist’s shelter. As the people stationed there continued to excavate the land, they had reported early symptoms of chiral contamination. Sam had DOOMS, so contamination didn’t bother him too much, but for normal people it could easily become deadly. Luckily, the symptoms that the Geologist was experiencing appeared to be on the milder side, but they still needed dealing with fast.

<Sam! Sam Bridges!>

A codec call came through his cuff links and jolted Sam out of his thoughts. The tone was peculiar, in that it was restless yet aloof.

<It’s me, Heartman. Can you hear me?>

Even within Bridges, Heartman knew the most about the Beach by far, but Sam had only ever been able to talk to him via wireless means or as a hologram.

<Sam, I heard that you’re currently en route to visit some old acquaintances of mine. So if I’m not mistaken, that means that you’ll be heading to my place soon after, right? I’m still not connected to the Chiral Network, but I do fall under the operational area of the network installed at Mountain Knot City, so I should be able to relay through the wireless and voice call with you even when you’re high in the mountains. Of course, once the Chiral Network is connected, I’ll be able to speak to you as a hologram too.>

Heartman was speaking at such a pace that Sam wondered if he was even closing his lips between sentences.

<My friends may be stationed out in the shelters, but all of them are experts in their own fields in the natural sciences. I don’t know if you’ve been told this, Sam, but the area that you’re heading to is very unusual. It’s full of fossils from the late-Cretaceous Period. Now, that might not seem so strange since we know that the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, but in reality there isn’t that much fossil evidence left behind that shows them living all the way to the end of that period. So, what we have under the soil there is a record of extinction. I’ve been told that the shelter that you’re heading to now is the Geologist’s base. Now, he’s made quite an interesting discovery. You may not be able to imagine this, and I’ve only heard about it, so I’m not even sure that I quite believe everything myself, but they say he’s found a fossil Beach. That’s why he has started experiencing symptoms of chiral contamination.

<I’m sure he’ll recover once you deliver him the medicine. But remember, he’s not the only one involved in this research and investigation. There’s a paleontologist digging up fossils of extinct creatures and an evolutionary biologist out there waiting for you, too. Everyone is looking forward to your arrival and the activation of the Chiral Network, when they can recover the past research data that was lost in the Death Stranding and access the memories and records directly from the time of the extinction itself. I am too, for that matter. Oh, Sam, I do hope you get here quickly.>

It was just as Heartman had described. The plan was to drop by their shelters and activate the Chiral Network for them. But first, he needed to deliver the medicine to the Geologist. Once he had done all that, he would need to drop by Deadman’s place to pick up Lou. Heartman may have been very talkative and extremely quick-thinking, but he would have to wait.

<Sam, are you still there? I would love nothing more than to keep this conversation going, but I’m afraid my time is almost up.>

Sam wanted to point out that their call had been more like a monologue than a conversation, but before he could say anything, a robotic voice interjected with <One minute remaining.>

<Sorry about this, Sam, but I need to borrow you so I can verify their discovery in detail. So, please hurry up and get the Chiral Network up and running at their places and mine. You’re not just connecting places and people here. Let’s talk in more detail next time. See you, Sam.>

Heartman disconnected the call with the same urgency that he had originally rung with. The phrase “a fossil Beach” echoed around Sam’s head. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fossils they were finding of the dinosaurs that had managed to cling on until the very end. He wondered what fossilization of the Beach even meant. He couldn’t even fathom it. But, just like Heartman said, none of this was confirmed, so there was no point thinking about it yet. Sam stood up, looked up at the sky, and readjusted his hood. The snow was beginning to fall again.

Black clouds once more obscured the heavens. Something sounded like an animal howling in the distance, but on further listening, Sam realized that it was the sound of the violently blustering wind. Gusts battered Sam, crying like countless invisible beasts, which threatened to topple him over. He braced himself against the land, but he couldn’t withstand the weight of his cargo and fell backward.

The violent, beast-like wind rushed over Sam as he became buried in snow. The flurries swirled and groaned and blocked out his vision. As he struggled back to his feet, cursing, the wind knocked him back down. Standing had become impossible.

There was nowhere to shelter from the wind on this blizzard-battered mountain peak. Sam grabbed a climbing anchor out of his backpack and thrust it into the bedrock beneath the snow. He tied the strand around his waist and secured himself to the other end.

All he could do was lie face down and wait for the winds to calm. He clung to the snowfield on his belly. If there was any space between himself and the ground, the wind would get in and blow him away. He wondered just how far his body would be carried in weather like this. Would it be just like when he was taken by the supercell before?

Sam could feel his body heat draining away as he was rendered immobile. He couldn’t stop the ringing sensation in his back teeth. The feeling of being cold had already disappeared and now the only sensation running through Sam’s body was pain. But that pain would eventually disappear, too. Then it would be the end. He tried to muster all his strength into his limbs, but his fingers and toes only continued to grow more and more numb. The snow gradually concealed the outline of his body from the waist down, making it look as if his body was gradually dissolving away into particles. Just like a BT. That thought felt like part-hallucination and part-dream. It was a bad omen. He couldn’t look inwards at a time like this, he had to look outwards. He had to bind both body and mind back to earth.

After a while, Sam realized there was a rhythm to this wind. It didn’t stop blowing, but there was a little bit of a calm after the more violent gusts. If he could predict when the calm would come, he might be able to move. If he stayed here, he was going to succumb to frostbite.

The wind weakened. Sam gripped the strand that was tied to his waist with both hands, and began to move forward as he kept his center of gravity low to the ground. Once he reached the summit it was all downhill. He concentrated his strength into his hand, which gripped the strand. The feeling in his palms and fingertips was returning. Perhaps it was because of the change in terrain, but the wind seemed to be losing strength. The snow continued to come down in droves and Sam still couldn’t see anything, but he was sure that even at this pace, he was slowly making his way down the mountain.

He kept telling himself that it was just a little farther. He didn’t think about anything else, he just put one knee in front of the other like a machine. If he could just keep doing that then he would escape this blizzard and make it back to the real world.

Something suddenly made Sam nervous. He could hear a sound. It was like the groan of a BT. It was getting closer and louder. He could hear it from overhead, from the peak of the mountain he had just ascended.

But it was no BT. It was only after something hit Sam hard, flinging him down the mountain like a rag doll, that he realized what it really was. It was a rockfall. He had barely avoided being hit head-on, but had still been grazed by the falling rocks. The earth and sky switched places over and over and Sam was plunging through the black clouds. One of his backpack straps snapped and cargo was sucked into the sky.

He was completely disorientated. All because of some stupid rockfall, Sam was tumbling all the way down the snow-covered slope. He was groping for something, anything, to grab onto to stop his fall, but there was nothing.

It felt like his ka had disappeared from his ha. Just like it did at the Seam. Even though he felt like he was falling through the sky, he could hear the sound of waves. A baby was crying.

It was calling out for Sam. A wave had rolled onto the shore and was trying to drag the naked baby into the sea. Sam broke into a run and jumped into the water. Lou was still crying out for him. The waves tossed Sam around helplessly as he stretched out his right arm and barely grasped onto the BB’s umbilical cord. He used it to reel the BB in and take it safely into his arms. As he cradled it to his chest, he realized that the baby was Målingen and Lockne’s daughter. But Sam didn’t question it. A BB was a bond, both shackle and anchor. The BB gave meaning and direction to Sam’s life, a bridge from a fixed start to its end, whenever that may be.

Once he realized that, he broke down and wept. He couldn’t see anything through the never-ending stream of tears. That’s why he didn’t notice the red suit approaching him in the distance. The baby cried out and tried to break free of Sam’s embrace. It was a joyous cry from the heart that Sam had never heard before.

Mama!

The BB—the baby—cried.

The woman in the red suit held out her slender arms and took the baby from Sam. Or rather, the baby escaped to her arms of its own volition. It was Amelie.

Amelie’s eyes were overflowing with tears, too. Tears that were black. As soon as her tears hit the baby nestled to her chest, it began to collapse in on itself, breaking down into countless minute particles. It was just like the way Sam’s blood returned the BTs to the other side. Amelie’s tears returned the BB back to the place where it was meant to be.

Wait! Stop! Give that kid back to me!

Sam’s voice didn’t reach her. (Well, I am being held very far away in Edge Knot City, aren’t I?)

Sam kept screaming in vain until his own shrieks woke him up.

He was lying face up on the snowy slope and it took him a moment to realize that he must have been out cold and having a nightmare.

The winds had died down, the snow had stopped, and the clouds had disappeared. Sam propped himself up and wiped away his tears. But they were no longer tears of sadness. Sam’s nostrils filled with a familiar odor. He was right in the middle of BT territory.

He sensed a strong BT presence. It was so strong that the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. He felt his body break out into goosepimples and his muscles began to spasm and tremble. He broke into a fever. Then came the alternating chills and nausea. He felt like he could hear the breathing of the dead next to his ear, but without a BB, he shouldn’t have been able to hear anything. A handprint appeared right beside him. It formed only one of a trail of black handprints across the pure white snow. The stench of the dead grew overpowering. Sam covered his mouth with his hands and curled up in an attempt to conceal his presence as much as possible, but the trembling didn’t stop. Sam couldn’t tell if he was trembling from the cold or the fear.

The handprints around Sam multiplied, all different sizes and all going in different directions. Multiple BTs were searching for him. He was surrounded on this snowy mountainside. He felt like an offering being made to them in atonement for some past sin. What an ego. If Sam caused a voidout here, he would be back. But the energy from that voidout would reduce Mountain Knot City to nothingness, along with Deadman and Lockne and Lou. What kind of offering brought such destruction and calamity to the world? Offerings were supposed to be given to maintain peace.

Although Sam could identify the handprints and presence of the BTs, his heart was still tormented with speculation and suspicion. He never thought being unable to see them would frighten him this much. The empty area on his chest that was usually occupied by Lou felt heavier than ever.

He grew light-headed as his body begged for oxygen. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer. But the handprints were still circling. Sam used his numb hand to remove the glove on his right. The tips of his fingers had turned dark and bruise-like. It was a sign of frostbite. He sank his teeth into his wrist, felt the warmth of his own blood spurt forth, and spread it thickly over his face. Even though it had been coursing through his own veins, it still smelled foul and only made him feel even more wretched. Still, he sensed the BTs flinch.

The handprints stopped moving.

Sam removed one side of the cuff link, exposing the cutter. It was the same cutter that had sliced through Mama’s umbilical cord. Normally, a unit attached to a blood bag would be inserted into a broken blood vessel to maximize the amount of blood drawn. Sam felt a pain like his heart was exploding. Steam rose from the cutter as blood trickled out. Sam groped around for his backpack with his left hand and removed a hematic grenade. It was connected to a full blood pack. Sam had no idea how many BTs there were, or where they were prowling.

He closed his eyes. If he couldn’t see them in the first place then there was no point in looking. He prayed to his absent BB.

Protect me, Lou.

He thought that he heard Lou’s voice in response. Even if he was just hearing things, all he could do was believe in it. Sam threw the grenade, like a separate heart filled with his own blood, overhead toward the voice.

There was a small explosion and blood rained back down on Sam. The blood hit the BTs, revealing the outlines of their bodies and where they were. They soon broke down into particles, but Sam knew that he would have to do more to get rid of them all.

Sam stood and advanced forward, brandishing his blood-covered cuff links like a whip. The BTs shrunk back. Sam’s vision began to spin until he could no longer tell what was up and what was down.

Maybe it was because of all the blood he had lost that all the color began to drain out of Sam’s world, turning it monochromatic. He kept moving forward as black blood scattered across the white snow. He was like a saint, parting tempestuous seas and walking between them toward the promised land. But there were no living people following in his footsteps behind him.

By the time Sam was sure that he was out of BT territory, he no longer had the strength to stand. He barely had any energy left at all. He used the last of his strength to stem the bleeding from his wrists and stitch himself up with a medical stapler. He followed up by throwing some blood replacement supplements and smart drugs into his mouth, and chewed. He even appreciated the cryptobiote that he found in the bottom of his backpack.

The cuff links picked up a weak radio signal, telling him he was close to the Geologist’s shelter. Once he had descended the slope, it would be around three kilometers away, but at that very moment that distance felt almost impossible. Sam found himself some exposed bedrock, thrust in a pile, and tied his strand around his waist. He descended the rest of the slope depending on a literal lifeline.

* * *

The Geologist’s shelter lay a distance away that Sam would normally have been able to cover on foot within thirty minutes, but he needed much more time than that now. Thankfully, oxygen levels had increased and the snow had stopped falling once he had descended down the mountainside. Since he took a break partway down, he found some of his strength had returned as well.

The Geologist was a Bridges scientist, and even on the hologram you could see how emaciated he had become. When Sam finally handed over the medicine he had brought, the Geologist was overcome with joy and tears, and could only thank Sam over and over again.

“Thank you, Sam Bridges. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I was feeling giddy or getting majorly depressed over the smallest of things. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I thought that all these haywire emotions were because I was out here all alone at first, but it turned out that wasn’t the case. It was because of chiral contamination. I always knew that it was a possibility, but I never thought it would actually happen to me. It was a sign that the chiral rays the chiralium was giving off were having an effect on both my body and mental state. It presents very similarly to stress, so that’s what I thought it was at first. At this rate, I probably would have started contemplating suicide, but thanks to you I’m going to get better.”

Sam could see some slight effects of the chiral contamination in the speed and breathlessness in the Geologist’s speech. Sam wanted to tell the Geologist to just hurry up and take the medicine, but he couldn’t get a word in edgeways.

“It was approximately 3.8 billion years ago when life first emerged on this planet, and ever since then we have seen repeated mass extinction events of varying scales. Out of all these events, the largest ones are known as the Big Five. They each occurred at the ends of the Ordovician Period, the Devonian Period, the Permian Period, the Triassic Period and the Cretaceous Period respectively, wiping out most of the life on the Earth’s surface.

“But why does a phenomenon that eradicates all life on this planet occur in the first place? By what mechanism does it take place? And was the Death Stranding the sixth mass extinction event? I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of all these questions together with Heartman and my colleagues, but the only result that we’ve turned up so far is the discovery of a fossil Beach. Do you understand what that means? When an earthquake occurs, frictional heat at the fault line forms a stratum called pseudotachylyte. They’re known as fossilized earthquakes, therefore making this a fossilized Beach. We were looking at strata from the end of the Cretaceous Period, when we found this strange thing mixed in with dinosaur and ammonite fossils. But it’s not something that can be seen with the naked eye. The term ‘fossil’ is more of a metaphor here. We detected the chiralium and that chiralium is what first caused these symptoms.

“Speaking of chiralium, chiralium was only found after the Death Stranding occurred. It was brought here via the special dimension that we call the Beach. Some of us think that it always existed somewhere, just like the Higgs Particle and dark matter, and we just hadn’t found it yet. This fossilized Beach proves that. It also proves that this isn’t the first time the Beach has appeared on this planet. At the very least, there’s a chance that it also appeared during the extinction event that took place at the end of the Cretaceous Period. We haven’t been able to accurately verify this yet, but we can assume that there is at least some kind of relationship between the occurrence of the Beach and extinction events. By investigating the strata formed during other periods of extinction, we might find other fossilized Beaches, meaning that the Beach is involved in mass extinction events. Are you following me?

“Look, I don’t really understand the Beach. I know that it is linked to the spirit of each person and that it can be used as paths on the Chiral Network, and I kind of get that it is something that can’t be physically touched, but whenever I listen to the stories of people like you with DOOMS, it almost feels as if the place actually exists.”

That impression was correct. Sam knew that even he couldn’t explain his experiences on the Beach to other people. The words that people with DOOMS and people without DOOMS used to describe death were different. The way they imagined death was different.

The syntax they used to describe the Beach itself was different. A gap in perspective that Sam knew couldn’t be bridged.

The one thing that Sam had followed in the Geologist’s ramblings was that the likelihood that the Death Stranding was the sixth mass extinction event had increased dramatically. If the reward for finally solving the eternal mystery known as death was extinction, would everyone just roll over and accept that? Did death use the fate of extinction as a gag for those who found out its truth?

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to further clarify the relationship between the Beach and extinction, but that all hinges on you activating the Chiral Network for this area.”

Sam took out the Q-pid in response to the Geologist’s remarks. He pressed it to the receptor fitted onto the delivery terminal and activated the network. If the Beach had been connected to all those past extinction events too, then didn’t that mean that the Chiral Network, which used it as an intermediary, could have yet another use? Sam questioned as he replaced the Q-pid inside the breast pocket of his suit.

Immediately after Sam left the shelter, a call registered on Sam’s cuff links. It was Deadman.

<Thank you for waiting, Sam.>

There was no way that Deadman could have known about all the crap that happened within the BT territory back there, but his cheery tone still annoyed Sam.

<I’m all done. I managed to reset the BB without any problems at all. Now all I have to do is test whether it still functions properly, whether the amount of stressors it can withstand is up to spec, etcetera, etcetera.>

So, the new BB was complete. And Lou was gone. Maybe he should treat it as the new Lou. But just as parents could not replace their children, or other people could not replace lovers or friends, there was no replacement Lou. (Hey, Sam, is that true?)

<I’m going to take it out and test it. The Mountain Knot City staff are going to be helping, so there’s no need to worry about me. This whole area is covered by the Chiral Network now, thanks to you, so we’ll know where the BT territory is and we’ll be able to predict the weather. We should even be able to detect the movements of those beasts to some extent. So, once you’re finished with your job, all you need to do is come and pick the BB back up.>

Sam wanted nothing more than to punch the cuff link, but he couldn’t cancel the call from his end. That made him even more annoyed.

<We’re going to be testing out the BB in an area southeast of the Geologist’s shelter. It’s right next to the distribution center near Mountain Knot City. I know that you already went out west, and I’m sorry that I have to call you back this way, but at least you won’t have to climb over the big mountain this time. With your legs you should be able to make it in a day. Plus, once you’ve taken back the BB, you’ll be able to rest up in a private room at the distro center.>

Sam even felt annoyed at how Deadman was trying to make it sound like it was the most thoughtful suggestion ever. Sam was the one out here busting his ass, delivering the cargo and rebuilding America. What was he doing? Sam held back his tirade and simply switched the codec itself off. Then he proceeded down the gentle slope alone.

It was getting colder now that Sam had entered the long shadow cast by the high peak, but after the extreme cold of the blizzard that he encountered before, this was nothing.

Once he had climbed this slope he would be able to see Lou again. Or rather, the BB previously known as Lou.

Complicated feelings welled up inside him as he looked up at the ridge of the mountain. To put it bluntly, it hurt to think that even though he would be creating new memories with the BB, he would have to let go of the old ones.

Once he had climbed the slope, he could see the distribution center in the distance. He was almost there.

<Sam, can you hear me? Watch out!>

Lockne’s voice suddenly cried out from the codec transceiver on his cuff link.

<It’s happening again. The chiral density is rising.>

Sam scanned his surroundings to try and figure out what she was talking about, but there was nothing unusual to be seen.

The Q-pid that Sam was using was the one that Lockne fixed. Had there been some kind of mistake? As Sam questioned himself, a vivid upside-down rainbow appeared in the southern sky. Even though it was an evil omen that signified a bridge between the world of the living and the world of the dead, it was undeniably beautiful. Sam must have seen it a hundred times, so he was surprised by this feeling he was having. In reality, it was a terrible thing, but he was so captivated by it. He was feeling something that he couldn’t put into words. He wasn’t quite in awe of its beauty, nor was he fearful; it was something else entirely. Just as he found it impossible to describe his feelings, he couldn’t stop his tears either. This wasn’t his usual allergic reaction. For some reason he was really moved.

The transmission from Lockne cut out. Sam tried reaching her again, but no matter how many times he tried, no sound came from the transceiver. Even though he was in an area covered by the Chiral Network, he couldn’t connect. All of this seemed to back up what Lockne had said about the sudden rise in chiral density. Or maybe something had happened back at Mountain Knot City.

He felt a sudden warmth on his chest, and when he pulled out the Q-pid, its six shards were emitting so much heat it felt like they might burst into flames. What was happening? Sam tried to rip the Q-pid away from his neck, but the Q-pid began to float away as if it was a creature with a mind of its own. It floated off into the air as if it was taunting him.

The second that Sam stepped forward, led on by the Q-pid, the scenery around him transformed in an instant.

An unbelievable gale was blowing at Sam from behind. He lost his balance and almost fell forward. He tried to cover his head with both arms to brace for the impact, but it was useless. His body floated. Gravity was gone and Sam was flailing through the air. Next to him, a huge whale was flying as its body rotated around like a drill. The debris of buildings, ships, and cars of varying sizes that Sam had only even seen in picture form, and faceless people that had appeared out of nowhere, were swallowed up in a giant whirlwind and sucked into the sky.

CLIFFORD

When Sam woke up, he found himself in a dilapidated town that he didn’t recognize. It was the kind of town that was built from stone and brick, not the kind of town you would find in America. The area was inundated with the sounds of shells and gunfire, together with the hum of heavy machinery that sounded like some kind of growling beast. The enormous bird that was tearing through the sky and causing the deafening roar above was an airplane. It was defying gravity. It was flying. Sam knew of planes that flew through the sky, but this was the first time he had seen one with his own eyes.

Sam fled to the nearest ruins to avoid the crossfire. The transceiver switched on and communication was established. It was Deadman.

<Is that you, Sam?>

Sam heard the worry in Deadman’s tone before he had even finished addressing him.

“What’s the matter? Where are you?” Sam asked.

<I don’t know. It seems like we were sucked up into that storm as well. Since we can contact each other wirelessly, that hopefully means that you’re close by. Me and the BB are fine. We’re in some kind of sewer system. I don’t think anyone has spotted us yet.>

An explosion went off somewhere in the distance, shaking the ruins. Debris began to fall from the ceiling.

<When I came to my senses we were by the entrance to a sewer, so I ran in there and now we’ve been lost for a while. I saw a guy who looked like the one you described last time. He was with the skeleton soldiers, so I’m sure he was the same one. He had a doll of a baby with him.>

Deadman seemed to be more talkative than usual. Maybe it was to distract himself from his own feelings of anxiety.

<This is probably a battlefield from World War Two. It’ll be somewhere in Europe. When I was running away I caught a glimpse of some tanks and fighter craft.>

“How do you know?”

<Did I never tell you how much of a World War Two nerd I am?>

Without even commenting, Sam launched into a new line of questioning.

“Are there any landmarks nearby? I’m coming to get you and Lou. And then I’m going to kick that guy’s ass. Then we should be able to go home.”

But Sam wasn’t certain of that. That just happened to be how events transpired last time, but he had to do something or they would never get out of here.

<There’s a Gothic-style building. It’s half rubble, so I can’t be sure, but it doesn’t look so old. It looks like it might be from the Gothic Revival period. It has a forest-like silhouette. There are a couple of pointed turrets coming out from the roof that look like trees. It’s a tall, huge building.>

Sam only understood about half of what Deadman said. “Is he some kind of architecture nerd now, too?” Sam muttered, heading outside.

Sam picked up an abandoned rifle that lay in the ruins of the building. It was lighter than the one he had picked up in the last battle and looked easier to use. It had been over a hundred years since World War Two, but Sam couldn’t believe how refined guns had already become. Come to think of it, it was around this time when nuclear weapons had first been developed as well. Humans had been creating tools to destroy each other for a long time, it seemed.

Sam soon found the building that Deadman had described. The one that had the silhouette of a forest. If Sam had understood correctly, then this was it.

It was indeed half rubble, just as Deadman had said, but the entrance wasn’t blocked.

Sam passed through the hallway and headed down the stairs into the basement. As Sam looked at the bulletins posted along the wall, he realized this must have been some kind of public building, but none of the postings were in English, they were all in German, so he couldn’t be sure.

All of a sudden, Sam was almost knocked to his feet by a powerful crash and violent tremors. He was left barely standing with a hand on the wall for support. Just as he thought it had calmed back down, he began to hear the intermittent explosions of shells followed by screams. It seemed like the location of the battleground had shifted.

He pushed on an iron door in the corner of the basement that was partially covered in green rust, and entered a tunnel. The space was filled with the stench of stagnant water and the tepid air seemed to coil around his body. In the background he could also faintly smell the scent of blood and gunfire. Sam heard another explosion and the tunnel shook once more.

“Deadman! Where are you?!” Sam’s voice echoed loudly. It was like he was surrounded by a thousand invisible Sams, shouting in unison.

“Sam! Over here!” Deadman shouted.

Sam continued down the tunnels, following the sound of Deadman’s voice, and eventually found him clinging tightly to an iron grille, calling out Sam’s name. Under one of his arms was the pod.

“Sam! Over here! Quick!” Deadman urgently beckoned. Sam calmed the agitated Deadman and shifted his gaze to the pod. Regaining some composure, Deadman held the pod out to him through the iron bars.

Sam couldn’t help but murmur Lou’s name as he took the pod back, but there was no response from Lou, who seemed to be asleep. Sam said Lou’s name once again, but the BB only cried out in displeasure after having its sleep interrupted.

“The little one should be working again. Let me see.” Deadman grabbed the pod back. Sam thought he was going to make some adjustments to the pod or something, but Deadman simply cradled it in his arms and gently swayed. He was rocking the BB. The BB stopped crying and Deadman looked at Sam triumphantly, but Sam didn’t say anything. Luckily, the awkwardness of Sam’s displeasure at how Lou had forgotten him and become attached to Deadman was dispelled by the sound of an explosion. It sounded like a bomb had been dropped. The whole tunnel shook, and fragments of brick fell from the ceiling. Nearby, Sam heard soldiers asking someone to identify themself. Deadman held the pod close as if to protect it.

“Maybe this is a special Beach for soldiers who died in battle. A maelstrom of their bitterness and regret,” Deadman muttered, handing the pod to Sam. “If this is the same place as last time, then maybe the key to getting home lies with the same man you met last time.”

Sam mounted the pod on his chest. A nostalgic weight returned.

“You should wait here,” he told Deadman.

Sam connected the cord to the pod.

“So? Do you still share memories?” Deadman inquired.

Sam silently shook his head at Deadman’s question. The BB inside the pod had an innocent expression on its face, like it had just been born. It seemed this kid had forgotten everything after all.

The Odradek booted into life with a groan. The sensor was spinning rapidly and soon formed into a cross shape.

That man’s face flashed across Sam’s mind.

The kid may have forgotten Sam, but it still reacted to the man. The Odradek was pointing in his direction.

“You know, Sam, I’m starting to understand why BB is so important to you,” Deadman said, looking at the pod. “It’s just a tool. Life and death are supposed to be irrelevant. But we’ve got attached to each other all the same… Haven’t we?”

“Kid’s not just a tool. Name’s Lou,” Sam replied curtly.

Even if the BB had forgotten all about Sam, its name was still Lou. Sam stroked the pod and began to walk in the direction of the sewer exit.

* * *

Bells were ringing. They sounded like church bells.

But as they rang out across the battlefield, their purpose wasn’t to return the souls of the dead back to heaven, but to inspire them to fight and bring them back to life.

The bombers that controlled the skies dropped bomb after bomb after bomb, but the church spire remained unscathed. Like devoted followers fearing the wrath of God, each time the bombs fell anywhere near the spire, the bombers changed course. All the missiles and shells being thrown through the skies completely missed it. It was like someone had commanded that the bells weren’t to be silenced until all the dead, with their lingering attachment to this world, had been resurrected.

All those people had died before they even had a chance to realize it, at the hands of weapons designed to kill en masse. If life was a sentence, theirs had been interrupted partway through and left without a period to wrap everything up neatly at the end. And they were coming back to look for it.

Numerous filthy dolls in the shape of babies hung from a giant spider’s web that spanned the spire below the swaying bells. Some had their heads caved in, others were missing limbs, and some had bellies that had burst open. One of the dolls began to shake as if it was having a fit. With each spasm, a single eyelid jerked open and closed. It was like the doll was frantically pleading for something but unable to cry.

In response to its silent wailing, the man who lay across the center of the web awakened.

He had found the period at the end of his sentence.

The thread coiled around him unraveled, and the man gracefully descended out of the web.

And now it begins again. Someone was speaking. It’s finally time to put an end to this story of yours that was so cruelly interrupted. Flames erupted overhead as if to celebrate the man’s awakening, and the spider’s web began to go up in an inferno. Embers poured down like rain. The man placed a cigarette between his lips and let the rain light it. He breathed the smoke in deeply before letting it all back out and smirking.

Cliff had found him.

As the tobacco smoke diffused and disappeared, four soldiers took their place around the man. All were fleshless. Only bone. The man flicked the cigarette away and raised his arm up high.

Then he brought it back down, silently commanding his soldiers. Go forth. Take back the period that was snatched away from you. The man watched the soldiers move out. Capture the child and bring the man who won’t let go of it back here.

* * *

Once Sam had escaped the sewer, he was immediately greeted by bombs. They were showering down from the bombers above. They were still a distance away from the spot were Sam was standing, but the thundering sound of explosions still pierced his eardrums and the tremors shook his insides. He had to find that man. When he checked the direction that the Odradek was pointing in, he could see a church-like structure.

It had a strange appearance. Despite the fact that its foundations had been mercilessly decimated, the spire thrusting up into the sky wasn’t damaged in the slightest and stood firm. Sam didn’t know a lot about the structure of buildings, but even he knew that was unusual. The foundations were dust, yet the spire alone was still standing there. He wasn’t close enough to get a good look, but he couldn’t make out a single chip or crack. There wasn’t even any soot from the flames all around. In this place where anything and everything was an offensive target, destroyed and defiled, this tower alone was sanctified and protected.

And the Odradek was pointing right at it. That was where the man was.

But Sam had no idea how to get there. Bullets were flying all around him and there was no end to the bombing in sight. Flames scorched the sky and the shrieks of soldiers were constant. This was just like the time before. Sam was on a battlefield where the dead killed their fellow dead. Where the means of the massacre was on an even grander scale than the original battleground.

When Sam gazed up at the silhouettes of the bombers and checked the weight of his rifle, reality hit him.

Sam flitted from shadow to shadow, between broken barricades, disorganized sandbags, toppled-over tanks, and ruined buildings that dotted the cobbled streets, paying careful attention so as not to get caught up in the battle. Even though he could hear the final wails of agony from soldiers on all sides, he hardly actually saw any of them.

The thought of nuclear weapons suddenly crossed his mind. How just one bomb could kill countless people en masse and wreak destruction over an absurdly large area. Maybe this battlefield was far away from other people. Maybe it was a battlefield that didn’t involve humans, it was just one they died on. Where people killed one another at a distance, rather than staring their opponents in the face as they fought toe-to-toe with fist or gun. Where they died without the opportunity to understand their own deaths. It was a battlefield where all that remained was the never-ending absurdity of it all, stagnating like sediment.

The battlefield was an endless, absurd cycle.

The only way to put a stop to that cycle would be to make the dead aware of the fact that they were dead. Just as people in the world of the living incinerated the bodies of the recently departed, to deprive their soul of a place to wander back to and give them their period at the end of their sentence.

If this war and this battlefield really had existed in the past, then humans had been mass-producing BTs for a long time. Maybe voidouts and the Death Stranding were disasters of mankind’s own making.

Sam’s footing slipped as the thought distracted him. He placed a hand on the wall of the building and steadied himself. When he looked down at his feet, he found that puddles had formed in the empty spaces left by missing cobbles. Sam tutted at his own clumsiness and carried on forward. That’s when he realized that what had pooled at his feet wasn’t water, but blood. Sam wondered how many people’s blood it took to form a puddle this deep. He was submerged up to his ankles.