Four

She remains silent, taking in the gruesome sight. It's mainly concealed in a single room, maybe what they considered the family room. A man, woman, two younger children and a baby. She shakes her head and sets her jaw in disdain. speaking in monotone, "Hopefully the smell will cover ours."

Luka gets two half disgusted stares from the members of her party. She ignores them, disappearing. She disappears into the closest room, not sure what they were expecting. Something cheerful? Someone had to disarm the situation. The room's built for a small boy, it seems, most likely the little blonde one in the den. His name is spelled out with soft blue wooden letters on the wall. Noah. She gets the overwhelming urge to throw up.

She picks up a small, ratty stuffed tiger with the face half torn off, and a beaded eye bulging out. A child's book sat haphazardly on the edge of the dresser, sticking out against the muddy green walls. If you give a Mouse a Cookie. Her hand covers her mouth unconsciously and she sets down the toy.

The rest of the room looks normal but she definitely feels like she needs to throw up now. Heavy panting reaches her ears from downstairs, breaking the tense silence. She looks out around the doorframe, seeing the hallway empty. The creaking of the stairs causes her to act, sliding quickly underneath the toddler's bed in a weak attempt to hide herself, nerves running haywire as the hair on the back of her neck stands up. The thumps stop in front of Noah's room and she holds her breath.

~

Succubus has taken up a spot behind the long, green sofa pushed up against the wall underneath a window. He had seen Luka poke her head from the door and quickly figured out why she had left. The sight was gruesome, and he didn't want to look at it either, if he was being honest. Jacob had left him alone in the den for another room on the other side of the large room. He had dove for cover as soon as he had heard the mutations coming up the stairs. Meeting them was like coming face to face with death.

The noises of movement stopped and were followed by what sounded like cracking or a very distorted crunching. The kind you would hear from a stray dog when they were gnawing on a bone. It made his skin crawl and he held his breath. The mutations were probably feasting on the mangled bodies of these people. Just the thought in itself was rather unthinkable. Disgust wrapped its fingers tightly around his throat. Succubus was disgusted by the fact this was real and had been for a few measly years. They had just never truly come into contact with the creatures like this. Succubus prayed he would never have to experience this ever again.

The other two could handle themselves he knew, but how long would the creature take to decide that they were finally full. Did they even have senses like that?. He doesn't move an inch for fear of it setting them off and having them hunt for him. He was way too exposed. He didn't know how their hearing worked. Any of their sensory functions, really, besides how the light made them blind..

Little growth resonates through the house once again, and more noises come from the stairwell. Another creature has joined this one, he thinks. Succubus tries not to focus on how close they are, relaxing his body and levelling out his breathing to subside the panic.

As long as he's quiet, he's alive. The sounds seem to last forever before the howling starts up again far off into the thick of the city, and multiple pairs of feet (paws? hooves?) race down the stairs. He counts out five more minutes in his head before inching up towards the edge of the couch. He peers out and finds nothing there except what's left of the mangled corpses of this family. He tries not to think about it too hard.

Succubus doesn't leave his hiding place completely until the howls have moved even further into the City. He tries not to think about how much worse the bodies look than before. Or how many times those things may've come back for more.He can't tell the little girl and boy apart anymore.

The longer they spent in the city the more he came to understand how much better off they were away from this place and why Luka and Ruby had chosen the warehouse in the first place. Jacob takes his time coming out from the other room, Luka exiting hers not long after, looking a little green.

She looks over at one of the bodies and disappears behind the semi open chipped bathroom door. He can hear her start throwing up the little she ate for breakfast, gagging as her reflec was triggered again and again. He shares a glance with Jacob before going into the bathroom with her, holding her hair back as she empties the contents of her stomach.

Luka looks up at him as soon as she's done heaving, wiping off her mouth with a sleeve. "The little boy's name. It...It was Noah. One of them anyways."

"How come you have such bad experiences with little kids?" He attempts to joke with her weakly. She gives a dry laugh in return, shoving him away a little too hard, and leaving the bathroom.

"This house sucks ass. I'm not letting you pick again," she sneers and points a finger to Jacob, eyes boring holes through him. "I'm also not staying the night here. I don't care what the rest of you do."

Jacob rolls his eyes at her brashness but Succubus can tell he somewhat understands her point. Luka takes out a bottle of water, sipping from it before disappearing to spit it into the bathroom sink, washing out her mouth. "What I wouldn't do for a toothbrush right about now."

She turns away, down the staircase and out towards the main door. She checks through the wide open door, searching for the mutations. When she finds none,they both follow after her out the door and away from all the carnage. The sun still beats down relentlessly, no true warmth. Succubus is sure that they are all glad for that. However, his skin would bake under the harsh lighting.

He puts his sweater hood over his head to combat it, just in case Jacob seemed to be fairing fine and Luka was simply getting more tan, if that was at all possible. Luka sets the pace for a while, alternating between walking and jogging to make sure they didn't have to stop. He figured some kind of store would be handy to replenish their water and get them some more food, but he also isn't sure Luka would be open to the idea of stopping. Not with Ruby on the line.

xcx

The acidy taste of bile still lingered in her mouth hours after the initial throwing up. Luka was slowly getting more and more frustrated. She hadn't had a clue how to find Ruby, and the events of the day were killing her body, not to mention the mental exhaustion from the death and decay.

She could tell the other two weren't holding up too well, worse than she in a physical aspect, but she had no mind for any of it. They should sleep up high, where they would be safe. In one of the fancier rich people apartments on the west side of the massive city. Not in some crummy house with decaying and mangled bodies of little kids and their parents- no. Stop. Focus on the task at hand.

Jacob chooses that moment to speak, voice low, completely breaking into Luka's thoughts. "We should find somewhere to sleep."

"Not yet," is her response as Succubus sullenly agrees with Jacob.

Jacobs' eyes narrow significantly as he stares pointedly at the faded lettering of her jacket. "Who put you in charge, Luka?" He stops suddenly, mid-jog.

"Someone has to do it. I didn't see you stepping up. Nor do I trust that you're capable enough to do so," she snaps and Jacob scoffs at her. She turns and stalks over to him, vaguely like a lioness approaching her prey. "We don't have time for this, damn it! Ruby is most likely deeper in than this, we've barely even scratched the damned surface of this concrete maze!"

"You don't know where Ruby is. If she's even alive! The majority of the group agrees to find a place to sleep," he bites out.

Luka remains deathly calm. "This isn't a democracy, Jacob."

"It is now, Luka. You're just going to have to deal with it for now," he practically spits her name from his mouth.

"You do realise that you are at my mercy, right? I'm the one who let you stay at the warehouse. Ruby may have picked you up in the streets and brought you to safety, but I am the one who allowed you in essentially. If it weren't for Ruby begging me to let you stay, for whatever reason, I'd have thrown you to the mutations quicker than you can say my name." She crosses her arms, a hint of anger sparkling in her dark eyes dangerously.

"Luka, listen, maybe you just need to sleep. Let's find somewhere to bed down so we can leave as soon as the sun starts to rise," Succubus tries to diffuse the tension, the situation raising anxiety.

Jacob shakes his head furiously. "If you don't want us here we can leave. Or you know, 'top dog', feel free to cast us aside and die out here on your own, no one will miss you. A group has a much better chance of survival than a single person. What would Ruby think?"

Luka's upper lip twitches. "She would hate your guts. But fine. That's fine. You're right, I don't know where Ruby is. AlI I know that we're wasting time standing here arguing about it. So let's go." She sweeps her hair off her back, heading towards a tall building.

xcx

One thing Succubus remembers from his childhood, he recalls, is that a lack of sleep, food, or proper care is usually the problem. Usually. His mother used to work late nights as a nurse and would sometimes come back angry. She would say things she apologised for the next morning.

He didn't let it deter him, instead using it as a chance to grow and learn from her mistakes. That and he was pretty young. Too young to recognise what her behaviour really was. You need sleep, you need to eat, you need to give your body a moment to rest and recoup.

He remembers his mother wanting to give up his cat, a stray whose name was Violet, because she didn't want to hurt the cat by accident. Succubus had only been seven and had begged and pleaded with her not to get rid of it. The next day after he got back from school, Violet was gone.

He had cried over the animal for weeks and it still made him a little upset when he thought about it. His mother is dead now, too. He wasn't sure how she had died, just that she had. Truth be told that Ruby, Luka, and Jacob were the only sense of family he had left. More or less.

So maybe climbing up a random fire escape exactly ten minutes after the exchange with a small pack chasing them at top speed wasn't the best distraction from his thoughts ever, but he would make do with what he could.

As soon as they make it to the top floor, someone shatters the window, he isn't paying attention to who, and they climb inside, rushing through the hotel suite, and into the cleared out hallway, shutting the door tight behind them. They locate the end of the hallway that holds the staircase towards the roof. They take the stairs, hearing the growls echoing loudly from the sides of the building mixing with the creaking of the fire escape. Succubus barricades the heavy door to the stairs and the three of them sit, concealed by the ledge of the roof. The wind is whipping, more intense up here, and Succubus can see Luka's hair whipping back and forth across her face.

Succubus doesn't let himself relax until the ominous sounds fade away. The loud howls still make him tense as they sound periodically.

He sits up straighter. Luka is somehow dozing nearby, curling tight in a ball, her jacket pulled tight around her shoulders. He can tell that she has been crying again, wind-dried tear tracks run down her cheeks. Jacob looks wide awake, however, sitting straight up against the door frame. Succubus takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly and finally relaxes his muscles, laying back onto the roof.

He takes a long minute to think. Luka did have a solid point. Ruby had at least a day's head start from them, for whatever reason she decided to head into the city Said city was massive, however, and it could take forever to find her especially without any means of reliable communication. It wasn't safe either, which was another problem altogether.

Succubus had always had a burrowing suspicion of the underlying reason Luka wanted to find Ruby so bad, but wouldn't voice it to her. Not because she was sleeping at the moment, but because she always got defensive when anyone - other than Ruby - asked her personal questions. She was passive aggressive at the best of times and they didn't need that right now. Or ever, really.

What she needed was at least eight hours of unbroken sleep to reset herself.That probably wasn't going to happen, it wasn't really possible with their current situation.

He still was holding out hope that they would be able to have that again. But with these mutated..things roaming around things weren't looking good. They haven't been for a long time.

He closes his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. Jacob could handle the first watch while he and Luka slept, no problem.

Luka wakes to someone aggressively shaking her shoulder. She turns her head towards them with her knife grasped in her hand. Succubus looks down at her.

"Your turn. Sun rises soon and you're the last one to watch."

"Fine," she mutters, sitting up slowly, rubbing her eye. Her eyes dart to the door to find it still shut tightly, no sign of it being opened. She steps over and risks a glance over the side of the building seeing nothing. Not that it'd have been easy if there was anything, due to the still dark outside.

She exhales and walks to the estimated middle of the two now sleeping boys and sits, pulling her sweatshirt tight around her shoulders once again. The rooftop was still chilly and she once again wished for a blanket, pushing down memories of the heatwave they had once experienced The sun seems to take forever to rise, the moon's descent seeming to quite literally inch by. But as soon as it's light enough, Luka wakes the boys. The city is quiet for once and she's grateful for it. They have a lot of ground to cover before the next night cycle. She looks over the side of the building to see it's clear.

"See anything?"

"Not a thing," she responds, excitement bubbling up in her chest.

Jacob speaks up. "I will not be going down the side. That is a hazard we shouldn't risk. The mutations could smash through the window and that'll be the end of that."

Luka growls with an eye roll as Succubus agrees with him. "The elevator shaft might be the safest way down. If we're lucky the elevator will be at the ground floor and we can climb down and drop through the top grate."

The two start to converse while Luka paces the textured ground of the rooftop. A chilly breeze blows every so often, reminding her of how close it is to the beginning of winter. She doubted it would get colder than this since that was normally the case.

Succubus' voice breaks through her thoughts. "We should loot some houses. For clothing and maybe blankets or something-" he's interrupted by a shrieking howl and a boy's scream. Luka pretends like she doesn't hear the person getting torn to bits down in the street. The other two seem to be doing the same thing.

~~~

Succubus gets chills down his spine at the noise but he walks over to the edge and looks over it. "I wonder how contagious the disease is. I mean, the little girl-"

"Rosalynn."

"-Rosalynn, was turned into one of those things. So it would make sense to get close enough to see what happens to the boy that we just heard. We should get down there to study what happens so we can avoid the same mistake."

"Bad idea," Jacob interjects. "The things are down there. So if we go down there we could die too. We have to wait it out because I am not roof-jumping. This isn't a movie and I don't want to become a pancake."

He hears Luka scoff, "The elevator is smart. We don't have to go all the way down, just enough so if we need to jump out a window we'll be safe."

Succubus laughs, "I can't believe you still have the word 'safe' in your vocabulary. Safe is non-existent anymore." The glare he receives is one that could kill. "I'm just saying. Stop pretending that we can be safe anymore. Echoes were never safe. The shed wasn't safe. Rosalynn proved that."

"Stop talking about her! You don't get to dictate my actions. Ever. Ruby is in here because she knew that Echoes was her best chance of survival. And now it's clearly ours too."

"We're only here because you two can't live without Ruby. She's smart, she can handle herself."

"Until she can't! She's not a superhero. She can die just like you and I. Besides, you wouldn't be here if you didn't like her too. She saved your ass just like she saved Jacobs. So stop complaining and let's get on with our lives." Luka snaps back and he finds the better sense not to answer her.

"Okay, if you're done arguing then let's go," Jacob says, moving to stand by the open door, leading to the roof. "And we could always just take the wall we came in. The bashed window and fire escape staircase."

Ten minutes later they decided to take the elevator shaft to the third floor and then find the fire escape. If all goes according to plan they might be able to grab a few things on the way out. Without accounting for the mutts, of course.