If people had still remained in this place, perhaps they would have rushed toward it in panic.
But no evacuees ever reached the edge of the highway.
The flow of people descended to ground level from the interchange further back. Even from there, it was obvious the expressway had been severed midway, and no one dared approach.
The modern youths, including Messiah, clung to the ropes awkwardly like caterpillars as they descended in their own unrefined manner.
In contrast, the soldiers from the future slid swiftly down the ropes with practiced precision, landing on the ground with weapons raised as they scanned the surroundings.
"So this is how future people do things? Don't you guys know there's such a thing as getting down safely? Wouldn't it've been easier to use the interchange like everyone else?"
Irat Gahanov, the first among them to reach the ground, muttered suspiciously with his usual sarcastic tone.
"You should understand that we act this way because we already know the outcome."
The priest adjusted his glasses with a finger as he answered.
At that moment, the scorching summer wind carried horrifying death cries to their ears.
Not only Irat, but all the young people clinging to the ropes like pill bugs froze in silence. The screams came from the direction of the interchange Irat had just mentioned.
The voices sounded like fingernails scraping violently against a wall.
Maria Priest's face turned pale the moment she landed.
"Dad…"
There were mountains of questions inside her small chest. Yet she was terrified to ask them. She feared that if she heard the answers, her father would truly stop being her father.
The priest gazed into his daughter's tear-filled eyes, lightly patting her head twice.
Then he opened the cylinder of his revolver and loaded fresh rounds.
By the time everyone had descended to the ground, the sun had fully set, and darkness swallowed the rubble.
"We're behind schedule. We need to hurry."
The young soldier checked the ammunition in his magazine as he spoke to his superior.
Pulling a flip phone from his pocket and checking the time, Max Dinger gave a small nod before glancing over the youths. All of them looked exhausted, their faces shadowed not only by the darkness of the world around them, but by the physical and mental fatigue brought on by the nightmare they had experienced that day.
"There's a place about two kilometers ahead where we can rest. We'll head there and wait for morning."
The young soldier widened his eyes as if asking, What are you talking about?, glaring at his superior.
But the priest ignored him completely and urged the modern youths onward, kicking aside rubble and dust across the ruined asphalt.
"Why the hell do I gotta go through this crap?"
The moment they started running, Irat Gahanov immediately began complaining while lazily dragging his body forward.
He had started the day exactly like any ordinary morning.
A completely ordinary morning.
He was supposed to go to university that day. In truth, he went every day anyway, spending time with upperclassmen and underclassmen alike. Ever since childhood, he had excelled at sports, never losing to anyone, often being called in as a substitute player for club activities.
Currently he lived alone with his older sister, though Messiah had heard their parents still lived in Italy. The siblings originally came from Russia, but after immigrating to Italy, they had begun living together in this city upon entering university.
That morning, just as always, his sister had woken him up, and the two had taken the subway together.
Then the tremors struck.
The train derailed.
After barely escaping with the other passengers, they had fled into that station.
So it was only natural that he cursed the reality he had been dragged into.
"Quit whining and keep running. If you want to survive, all you can do is run."
Siblings, no matter where or when, always seemed destined to become complete opposites. These two were no exception.
The older sister excelled at everything she did, naturally becoming the center of any group conversation.
Her younger brother, on the other hand, was talented in sports but hopeless academically. His rough attitude toward others often drew criticism. And his childish remarks frequently caused confusion or slowed things down.
Fan Loppen, tall and graceful no matter what he did, watched the arguing siblings from the corner of his eye and remained silent. Same as always, he thought.
Messiah had first met the long-faced young man on a rainy afternoon shortly after entering university.
A sudden downpour had left Messiah standing there in confusion when Fan approached him and casually said:
"Walking in the rain can be enjoyable too."
Without even opening an umbrella, Fan simply started walking.
That strange persuasive power of his worked even then, and before he realized it, Messiah had stepped out into the rain beside him.
The conclusion of that rainy day had been rather pathetic.
Both of them caught colds.
Even worse, by sheer coincidence, they ended up sitting side by side on the same waiting-room bench at their local hospital.
That had been the beginning of their friendship.