Liam and I come out of the forest, staying as close to the forest line as possible. The air is thick with the sharp smell of smoke, burning wood, and something metallic. From here, the city sprawls out before us, swallowed by chaos. Orange flames flicker and leap up the sides of distant towers, painting the sky with a dirty, trembling glow. The wailing of sirens, urgent and aching, cuts through the night and vibrates in my chest. We can hear shouts and the distant crash of breaking glass, a chorus of panic that chills me to the bone. My pulse quickens, and I feel Liam tense up beside me, both of us staring ahead, not sure if we're more afraid of what we see or what we can't.
"Okay, so which house is it where we need to go?" Liam asks me, his voice just barely louder than a whisper
"Follow me, it's not far. We just need to cross the street and then go to the third house on the right, it's blue with a garage in the front, looks a bit rundown," I answer, pointing in the direction of the house.
We move forward slowly, keeping as close to the garden fence as possible. Both of us crouch down, using the fence for whatever cover it can provide on our right. Step by careful step, we inch ahead, hardly daring to breathe. My heart hammers as I slowly lift my head above the top of the fence, just enough to get a view of the street. For a tense moment, I scan for any soldiers or beasts that could be waiting for us. The street is empty except for a line of abandoned cars. Relief mixes uneasily with dread in my chest.
"The street is empty, what do we just cross the street as usual?" I ask Liam behind me.
"Yeah, I think we can do that, it doesn't seem like we are in immediate danger its lucky that your Friend dosent live in the city center," he answers.
I slowly stand up and take one last look around before going forward towards the street right behind me. Liam is following closely with his knife in hand.
We come on the street, and still nothing happened, no sudden beast attack, just the faint sound of chaos in the distance.
"I think we are clear, but that doesn't mean that we can be careless. We still need to be on high alert. Just because we can't see anything doesn't mean that there isn't something around us," Liam says, but not with the nearly silent voice from before, now a bit louder, but still not in a normal tone of voice.
We come closer to the house, it's not majistatical its no villa or castle, and it's not one of the nicer houses its looks a bit rundown. The paint is starting to blister the windows didnt get cleaned in some time
We now stand right before the door its a wooden door with a glass panel at the top and yellow curtains behind them as i reach for the doorknob, Liam grabs my arm and stops me from opening the door.
"Do you think we should just barge in there unanoucend maybe we should make sure it is safe inside before we go in i mean, that would be the best thing to do. We don't want to just go in there and be met with a group of beasts that want to devour our bodies," Liam says concearned
"okay but if I get the message that she needs help i barge in there without regard for what is in there, understood?" I say
I pull out my phone and put the brightness to the lowest so that it is a bit more stealthy, and then I write a message to Lune.
[Lucius: hey we are at your door. Are you safe? Can we come in]
Then nothing, 1 minute passes, then another one, and then we hear a rumble from inside that comes closer with each second until the door suddenly swings open inward with a force that a gust of wind rushes past Liam and me
Before us is a small woman with dark red hair. She is clothed in a hoodie and a pair of wide grey jeans that cover most of her shoes. From what I can see, she wears black laced boots with and pleatue sole so she can be a little bit taller.
She wears a little metallic nose ring that ends with a spike on each site her hazel eyes glimmer with joy in the little light that the city lanterns make. She jumps into my arms and hugs me so tight that the broken ribs hurt as they got broken once again, but for her i endure it.
"why didnt you say anything before you got here? You got me worried sick. Anything could have happened to you. Don't do that ever again," she says
"It's fine lune i wont do that ever again, I promise," I say while I set her down on the ground gently." I made it out fine. It wasn't a big deal, nothing happend major besides that I met him," I point to Liam's direction, who is cautiously looking around with his hand on his knife holster, ready to attack if something sketchy happens.
"And you are lune. I heard a bit about you, but I think we should go inside. It would be safer after that we should make out a plan to survive this," Liam says while still not looking Lune in the eyes, he is still nervously looking around like something is about to happen, but there is still nothing to hear or see
"I am Liam. I forgot to introduce me i am sorry for that. That was rude of me."
"its fine, you can come in, but would you be so kind to get your hand off your knife its making me kinda nervous, you get why, right? " Lune says while walking back inside the house. Liam and I follow behind her, closing the wooden door that makes a horrifying sound that lets a shiver run down my spine.
We go up the old wooden stairs that lead us to the first floor. As we come on the floor, we hear sirens from outside that are blaring louder and louder with each moment that passes.
"Put the light out and stay silent now," Lune says eagerly while slowly moving to a window that faces the street in front of her house.
I flip the light switch, and in an instant, the light that a moment ago illuminated the whole first floor is gone. Liam is already following Lune to the window. I follow them as I am done.
I come to the window, and for a moment, there is nothing to see, but the sirens are blaring louder and louder until a car comes by, not a normal car a beige Humvee with an siren on top that wont stop making that horifying alarm sound and it stops not before the house we are in luckily, but 2 houses down to the left.
2 heavily armed men in army clothes get out of the car and start to walk in the direction of the house next to us. "What are they doing here? Are they starting to search the houses for any survivers then we are fucked" Liam whispers
Then we hear a person kicking down the door from the house next to us, a loud crack that gets only overtoned by the sound of the siren that is still ringing loudly.
then the sound from nextdoor gets louder trampling starts to happen not from one person but from a group of people that seem like they are running up the stairs and a person following them it seems like the group of people is now on the top floor of the house but the person following them is too and then the sound stops for a second or i think it does i cant hear anything
But then Liam grabs my arm, "They are talking. The guy in a military uniform is saying, why are you 3 running away from me i just want to help you i am not some kind of beast, or do I look like one? '" Lune turns to Liam and asks, "How can you hear them i cant hear a thing."
he answers "its a skill of mine i have a hightend awareness okay a person from the group is talking now (we were scared we thought u might try to harm us i am sorry we shouldnt have ran) then the military guy says (dont be why dont u start by showing me your stat window as a beginning that we could maybe help us out i mean u want to help your country dont u) they seem like they are following his instructions wait he says something again (oh it seems like all your stats and skills are not that impressive i mean we have enough of people with that kind of talent but i will save you anyway)"
"So the military arent all that bad, maybe they are just some black sheep in there, "I say, hopeful.
Then 3 bang sounds come right from the direction where the group was just talking, and just shortly after that, the sound of 3 heavy things hitting the ground ring though the air.
"are u sure u want to talk to them why not they seem nice right he just killed 3 people by saving them we need to get out here or hide aslong as they are around " liam says with a touch of sarcasm that makes it pretty obivious what he means he then turns to lune and asks " do we have a way of getting out of here without running into them because i think they will find us if we hide ourself here"
Lune is shaken as I am after a few seconds of silence. She starts to talk, "There is a back door that is a way in the garden, we can get to the next street that way."
"Okay, so let's get going. The time is running against us right now. Get the supplies you need the most, and then we'll go. You have a max of 2 minutes. I get anything that can be used as a weapon, and Lucius, you get food and water, and Lune, you get anything that can be used as medicine, "Liam says
We start to move slowly. I make my way into the kitchen and find Lune's backpack sitting on the counter. I grab it and empty it on the floor and search the kitchen for anything food and water-related, and I find 5 cans of ravioli and a few bottles of water.
Then Lune comes in with her hands holding bottles of pills and bandages. I say, "Put them in the backpack," and hold the backpack open as she puts the things inside. I ask her, "Are you okay?"
She answers, " yeah dont have time to get all emotional. That is only something for when we are safe."
"You got this," I say and give her a little scratch on the head.
we move to the door at the end of the halway its a glass door with a white frame. I check outside to make sure no threats are waiting there.
I slowly open the door, and the cold air brushes against my face. We move forwards we are now standing on a balcony with a set of stairs infront of us that leads us into the garden.
The garden is fenced in from all sides. The fence is an old wooden fence that seems like it's a bit taller than me, but from up here, I can see the road on the other side of the fence.
Liam is behind me, looking around carefully, and signals to me that it's clear to move on, but he holds his finger in front of his mouth to signal that we need to stay as quiet as possible.
I go first down the stairs and also take a look around, but i dont spot anything suspisous they come down close to me, and we move right up to the fence at the back of the garden.
Liam leans in closer and whispers,"Lucius, give me a hand and lift me over the fence. First, take a look, and then we can proceed."
I simply give him a little nod and let him step on my hands. His head looks over the fence, then he says, "Everything looks clear," so I let him down again.
i say " okay lets help Lune first she is the smallest of us then the stuff and then can you help me i think you should be fit enough to climb that fence but i might need a little help" then i point at my ribs " got hurt not that long ago i think i broke somehing" he simply nods and helps me get lune over the fence
We both put our hands out so she can step on them to get over. She first steps on my hand and then on Liam's as we want to lift her higher.
a sudden loud bang comes from behind us and then suddenly i fell a sharp stung followed by a burning feeling inside my leg i fall to the ground lune is holding on to Liam to not also fall down i am laying on the ground clutching my hand on my leg i take a small look and i see blood red ward blood covering my hands and my leg
Then from behind comes a sharp, low voice, "Don't try anything dumb, I have a fully loaded magazine, and I can clearly hit all of you from here before you even reach the steps or can climb that fence."
On top of the stairs is a man standing with a military uniform and a gun in his hand that is pointed right at us
I try to calm down, but the pain in my leg is way too immense.
"So why did you want to run away? That is not nice, we are here to save you," he says with a little chuckle under his voice.