Haruto hit the ground hard.
The crash took all the air out of his lungs. It hurt a lot all over his body. He had jumped out of the window with Miyuki just before the house blew up. The explosion still got them.
Smoke and ash were everywhere in the air.
The ground in the forest was all black and burned. There were pieces of wood on fire all around them. They were making a crackling sound as the flames spread.
Haruto. Had a hard time breathing. His chest hurt every time he took a breath.
He slowly turned his head to look around.
Miyuki was lying on the ground a ways away from him. She was curled up. Coughing weakly. Her clothes were all dusty. She had cuts on her skin where things had hit her.
Haruto ignored the pain. Made himself get up.
His legs were shaking under him. He kept going. He took it one step at a time. Made his way over to Miyuki. Then he reached out to her.
"Miyuki…"
She looked up at him. Her breathing was not normal. With his help she was able to stand up. She was swaying a little bit.
"I'm... Okay " she said softly but her voice did not sound strong.
The smoke was still really thick in the air so it was hard to see. The smell of burning wood was heavy. It was hard to breathe.
Then slowly the smoke started to clear up.
Shapes started to appear between the trees.
At first they were dark shapes but as the air got clearer Haruto could see them better.
They were men. A whole group of them. Haruto looked at them closely.
All of these men were human.
Miyuki was standing beside him. She caught her breath. Her body got stiff. Her hands started shaking.
She knew who these men were.
"…Them…" she whispered.
Haruto looked at her back at the men who were coming towards them.
"Are these the men who attacked your village?" he asked her quietly.
Miyuki. Haruto could see the fear in her eyes.
"They tried to catch me but I barely got away " she said.
The men came closer. Haruto could hear their boots crushing the leaves and ash on the ground.
One of them spoke up with a grin on his face.
"Boss look isn't that the girl from before?"
The leader of the group stepped forward.
He looked at Miyuki and a mean smile spread across his face.
"So you're still alive " he said, like he was amused. "I guess you ran out of luck today."
Then he looked at Haruto.
". Who is this guy?" he said, like he did not care. "It doesn't matter, though. If you're with her you're going to die "
Haruto did not say anything.
The leader looked back at Miyuki. His face got even meaner as he looked her up and down.
"You've grown up nicely " he said, like he was talking to himself.
Some of the men behind him started laughing.
"Boss we got lucky today." "Yeah we've got a demi- girl all to ourselves."
The leader raised his hand a bit and the men got quiet but he still had a big grin on his face.
"Don't worry " he said calmly. "We'll take care of the boy first."
He looked at Haruto for a second and his eyes were cold and mean.
"Then we can have some fun tonight."
Miyukis body was shaking beside Haruto and her ears were back. She was really scared.
The men, behind the leader started shouting and they were all excited.
"Let me go after you boss!" "No I'm next!" "Don't forget about me!"
They kept arguing until the leader raised his hand again.
"Enough " he said.
It got quiet again.
"You'll all get a turn " he said with a smile.
The forest was quiet more but this time it felt even more dangerous.