Isotope

By Ghufran Hussain

The Isotope is a series Science-Fiction book about Ava Williams who is trapped in an alternate dimension. While she struggles to return back to home, she realizes Earth has changed drastically. This story is her struggle to survive the Isotope. Will she able to make it? The book is a thriller packed sci-fi which takes a sharp turn.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AnewPress
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781970109672

Ghufran Hussain

Ghufran Hussain is the writer of Isotope. Besides being a writer she is a full time medical student at Iran University Of Medical Sciences. She was born and brought up in Bahrain. A highly creative person with various hobbies like pottery, crocheting, dancing, reading and writing

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Day 278

The little greens I saw yesterday suddenly don’t exist anymore-

The algae,

Fungi, and the shrubs

are gone-

This has been happening for quite some time now

I was able to collect some scrap pieces to rebuild my so-called radio, but even after managing to do so, all I could hear was screeching noises. I tried tuning it in, and for a minute I thought I had hit a station but alas, it was nothing- a dead end. Delusions were becoming a normality- I didn’t even know what’s real any more. In hopes of hitting a station. I kept trying- wishing even, 1..2..3., and it exploded this time leaving behind a tinnitus condition, 3 weeks. That’s how long it has been since Oliver’s disappearance. The last memory I have with him is playing fetch. I remember how I threw it, always holding back because the constant fear of losing him was such a nightmare I didn’t want to go through. When I threw the stick now, a high- pitched voice interrupted me and Oliver ran towards it. I froze until I realized he was gone. I chased after him for what felt like forever, until I ran out of breath. I didn’t want to stop because I knew I was alone if I lost him, and spending nights here is dangerous. Every night something new happens and I must be ready. The air here feels different; the sun and the moon seems strange. I don’t think I know what normal is any more.

I’ve kind of figured out the sun and moon cycles here; it takes 3 days for the moon and 15 days for the sun, to complete their cycles and so every 15th day the eclipse is seen. The sky turns green with a yellow undertone and soon the fog clouds the surroundings. And those exposed to the eclipse liquify, YES ORGANISMS LIQUIFY. At first, it felt like the entricus was floating in the air but within seconds I could see its arteries drain down along with its skin and internals. It doesn’t disgust me anymore; trust me I’ve seen worse.

THE FOG.

I barely remember surviving the fog. The last hit of the gas avalanche or what I would call the fog was bad; this time it was green and ate up all the trees. Perhaps that explains the theory of the vanishing greens and how it ate anything that crossed its path, not leaving a single organism behind.

I kind of figured out a safe spot but I hoped Oliver would have made it. I sometimes feel like I hear him barking but then realize that I’m all alone and he’s far gone, probably even eaten up by the fog.

It was weeks ago when I had first encountered the fog, I was alongside the river looking for some elkish, when suddenly everything started turning green. The air grew thicker followed by mist. Soon I could see a large cloud approaching me, and it slowly widened. Oliver started to run and I followed him, noticing it was only a few feet away. He took me to a cave built in a mapedius and we sat there, for hours; maybe days.

Every 15th day, I fetch some elkish, cannies, and Jojo nuts in the morning and get enough water to survive the week from contamination of the fog. I had sealed every gap of my empty palace with any scrap I could find. This is the only home I have now. I had built it with some trash bags, iron scrap, and wood logs.

Today marks the 17th time the eclipse hits this world which I like to call the isotope. Isotope, because the word simply means the same number of protons and a different number of neutrons. The protons refer to the same world (earth-like) and the neutrons to the different species. Some nights are cold and beautiful but when I think about the eclipse my opinions change.

The sun and the moon were closer, I could feel it. It was time to move into my palace, or my home, built around the mapedius so that I could rest my back. Surprisingly, the fog doesn’t eat up the mapedius, in fact, every time the fog touches the tree it forms crystals.

I felt it. The silence before the storm was so loud, it echoed in my ears. I could hear my lungs exhale and inhale; could even hear my own heartbeat. I could hear everything. The wind howled like a great rasping dog and there was a drizzle of rain hitting the roof which wasn’t as loud until it came and ate up everything. And when it all ended, I wanted to run far away but I couldn’t, where would I even go?

For any of you wondering why I ended up here or how I ended up here, 278 days ago, I was fixing our reactor generator at the headquarters of

Acromatt United which is the leading company for power supply all over the world. I loved my job, I even worked on my 21st birthday. I graduated from college last year and life was fun. Maybe it makes me a workaholic but I enjoyed every bit of my work. By now you must have guessed that I am an electrical engineer, and something did go wrong that night. The generators were shut and none of the turbines were working and so I called upon the operator to ask if there was any technical damage.

He replied saying that he had checked all the power lines and they seemed fine, so I decided to reboot the generators. They were working, but I didn’t see the next part coming. The generators overpowered and exploded. The next moment when I opened my eyes it felt like I had taken my passage to heaven but instead, I had made it to the isotope which was weird; it was earth-like but so different. I didn’t even know what to believe. My eyes were seeing things that were hard to describe like the animals; the snake-like organisms had a hard shell on their skin but what was weird was that they didn’t move like snakes but rather crawled like centipedes, or the peacock had beautiful feathers but its body was shaped like that of an owl.

I don’t even know if what I am saying or seeing makes sense. It was REAL. I didn’t have an explanation for it until a few weeks ago, when I discovered that I had entered a dimension; an altered dimension. The overpowering had created a portal that had shut close and now there’s no way back and here I am, all by myself. But Oliver had entered a few months later which made me wonder how he entered this dimension. If the portal was shut, how did it reopen? Is it possible that if Oliver entered, can more people exist here? By now I must have traveled thousands of kilometers but all I see is plants, animals, and no humans. It’s all like their DNAs were altered. Here, the species evolved each minute and everything here was a violation to the laws of nature. Too much biology for an engineer.

Was there another portal? Another way? I don’t know for sure, but I’m going to keep looking until I have answers and if there is a way out, I better find it.

CHAPTER 2

Screech!

Oh god, this was so infuriating. The screech was recognizable, but I don’t think anything here is recognizable anymore. It all feels different. I learn how to survive each day. This screech was like the one Oliver ran towards. I wanted to follow the noise, but my head was throbbing, the world spinning and all I wanted to do was throw up.

The mapedius had a hollow which was my storage house. I drank some water to relieve the urge of throwing up and sat down against the tree with my hands on the ground. I sat like that for minutes until I felt the ground shaking and the leaves vibrating. The fog was over, so it couldn’t be that. Moreover, it didn’t feel like the fog so I went out to see what it was this time. I could hear loud scary voices echoing all around and it was hard to tell where it was coming from. I didn’t know if I should run or stay. The vibrating sensation increased and the ground started to crack. I could see flying worms come out and now was the time I had to run, but I didn’t know where to. With no particular direction in mind, I kept running as far as I could for as long as I could. I was going to die, I thought to myself. I approached the lake, but the water was contaminated. I had to do it, I had to cross it, or else I would die. I tried to jump over the stones without touching the lake. When I crossed the lake and continued running, suddenly the ground stopped shaking and it