13 World Gone Wrong

{I didn't fail you… Louis…}

A frail but determined voice resounded in my head, echoing within the walls of my skull. A feeling that I'm having a hard time getting used to. 

Once Yakumo, Io, and I were about to enter a rundown building to keep our search for the human. The vestige was buried under burned ruble which was almost unidentifiable it wasn't because a small part of the building was still standing up.

'...Alright, not sure if you are the Kevin I know, but I don't think you failed him.' I took the small cage to hold the vestiges I would find in my expeditions. 

This is the first one I've found, vestiges have either fallen through the gaps in the ground to the depths or might just be in places like this. Finding new blood codes as vestiges might be hard if the death of the owner was in a place that was less likely to fall to the depths.

"Louis?" Yakumo also heard the voice from the vestige. "That person didn't sound like anyone I've seen in the base…" He frowned, but he still lead the way into the building.

*Klang!*

The clashing of metal belonging to Yakumo's Oni-Bane and the rusted sword wielded by a Lost illuminated the dull walls of the decaying building with flashing sparks. 

It hasn't been a few seconds since we even entered!

"Always on the damn corners!" Yakumo cursed as another monster came to the aid of its partner, bare-handed.

Rushing forward and avoiding a kick to the face, I swung my lance but the kickboxing lost blocked it with its metallic spikes emerging from its elbows. I didn't need to worry about the other one since Io simply stabbed it right through the chest during its short-lived struggle with Yakumo.

After seeing the remains turning to ashes, the kungfu lost did a stance with its hand between it and us before wiggling its finger, asking for a one-on-one fight…

I crooked an eyebrow at such an interesting sight. 

The lost here aren't mindless brutes. Perhaps they even have an idea of honor? 

"Tch! I have no time to mess with you." And just like that, Yakumo crouched under an overhead hook before punching the Bruce Lee wannabe through a wall, throwing it outside the building where a plummet to the abyss awaited.

"And to the shadow realm he goes…" I looked at the drop that even I couldn't see the end of.

"It certainly is shadowy down there." Io's pretty head wobbled up and down as she solidified my assessment with her own evaluation. So helpful.

:)

"So we got nothing in this room either?" Yakumo looked around the area habited with nothing but rubble.

"Nope, already checked and only found this plushie." I shook my head and pointed to Io who was holding a teddy bear before continuing, "The smell is here though."

"We are getting closer, but so are the lost and other revenants…" The man maintained stately composure under the increasing pressure. Not even thinking of failing in our rescue operation.

"This side is clear. Over." Yakumo communicated through the radio and we got the same response from the other side by Louis.

Once gathered and ready to continue following the tracks of alcohol and medicine, I noticed the park from far away, the thorns that pierced its soil had brought it a few levels above many of the destroyed buildings.

But despite such terrain being rather unique and attractive in a certain way, what really caught my attention were the webs holding a cocoon at the cliff of the small park connecting to another crumbling building.

It looked dirtier than the almost shining white it had in the game.

"Wait for a second, I will check from above." I didn't wait for their responses and climbed one of the plateau's most stable and tallest buildings.

The external stairway was still holding up, at least for half of the building's height. My semi-solid Apoz worked as an extra limb to support my weight while climbing the last levels up to the roof. It might not be as strong as Ren's but it can at least do this much.

Using it to test the stability of my next foothold, I managed to climb with little to no problem.

Man, I can't wait to make it solid enough to make spiderwebs!

Anyway, leaving my manly fantasies for later, I gazed at the park across the thorns serving as narrow bridges between the precipices of this place. Such a cramped path already having beasts on top of it will make anyone think twice and thrice about crossing it.

But those thorns are currently standing taller than buildings built by humans to hold up even during earthquakes. So, you know, beggars can't be choosers.

"Alright, let's see…" I stared further from the thorns towards the rundown building on the periphery of the park. One of the places a human could cross to the park without having to confront the lost guarding the thorns leading to it.

The mistle seems to still be there. Good. But as for the girl, she isn-

Never mind!

I couldn't see her face from my angle but she was definitely a human. She didn't wear a blood veil, but she brandished a rusty sword, and her clothing gave away that she didn't have any spares.

"Found the human!" I told the group below and Io who was already climbing up to be at my side.

…

Her feet hurt as the little cloth she could find to use as footwear had worn off long ago. The only useful cloth was around her waist carrying her medicine.

Her legs were sore, she has been constantly on the move as she knew some Lost would be curious about the smell of medicine.

Her hands trembled as she held a sword too heavy for her slender arms, but just the little sense of safety it provided was worth it.

Her throat was dry as the only water she had to drink was from 2 days ago from a roof canal that had been there for who knows how many days as it had mold around it.

Her head pained as relentless dizziness struck every now and then because her fever has worsened over the past 2 days.

Such a helpless situation, yet the vivid smile on her face didn't belong to a person on the edge of unconsciousness.

It had been 3 days since she escaped her captors. She would never have thought that she would be so grateful to the lost, beasts that would tear her apart without hesitation until they swarmed their little hideout.

She could barely take any supplies with her and knew that she wouldn't last long. But it wasn't about survival… it was about not living as livestock for the rest of her life.

"...you are right, it looks like shit…" the young girl snickered to herself at the sight of the park in ruins. The dryness of her mouth would make any listener recoil. No one would expect such hoarse vocals from a lady. 

She had seen pictures of the park from her mother's old album… the nights that her father used to tell her and her big brother stories about the world when it was once whole. The protection and teachings of her older sibling when their parents died…

Her life at the government shelter felt like a distant memory. No way to prove that such a life was once lived, only the void in her heart and her aching body told her that she wasn't in a nightmare, just in a horrible world.

The young woman strolled through the small road in the park before reaching a patch of grass, her naked feet dragging through some of the overgrown plants still left on the grounds. Such a smooth sensation compared to the concrete of streets and tiled floor of the park made her glad to have come here.

The tickling grassland on her bruised skin made her want to just lay there for the rest of the day.

"This… this place is not that bad." She commented to herself before resting on a bench, letting out a small grunt.

"Oh, God no. I'm becoming like dad…" The girl chuckled with a tone of reminiscence.

But her recalling of old memories stopped once she finally saw the scenery in front of her. She looked at the sunset that bleed its last rays of sunlight through the clouds, the darkness slowly creeping its way behind her.

As the light of the sunset began vanishing behind the clouds and the red mist around the city, glints of yellow light with a few purple ones could finally be noticed.

The glittering lights remaining in the city shined, creating an almost mirrored image of the night sky and its countless stars. 

The origin of such glints were the mysterious Thorns of Judgment, creating a, perhaps, beautiful image if one didn't know the atrocities that such spikes have caused. 

She looked at the Thorns that have robbed her of a possible future with her family, destroyed the world her parents and grandparents built, and almost brought the end of humanity along with monsters that devour humans and themselves alike.

The chilly night wind made her feel rather fresh despite her fever. For an instance, just this scenery was all she had in mind. No agony or starvation could rob her of this moment.

The world continues despite what she had lost. The sun will rise and shine its rays of sunlight on all things just the same. The stars will remain in the same place for years, unaffected by the tides of the world, even if humanity were to die, the stars would shine the same for those who remain…

"Hufff…" she sighed before standing up. Her gaze was strangely calm. It's not that she had grown indifferent to her circumstances, just that she had accepted them.

Saying that your life sucks doesn't solve anything… and what words can't do, actions will.

"Ugh, that sounded just like you, brother." She groaned in annoyance.

Having already seen the park in which her parents met for the first time, and looking at a proper sunset from high altitude like her big brother wanted, she was ready to go.

Not sure where anymore, but she has to keep going.

*(bang!)*

The echo of a gunshot made the girl jolt. It was one particular sound that was different from a firearm, one that could only belong to a revenant's bayonet!

And just like that, the girl loosely found her next destination…

'Anywhere but here!!'

She forced her aching body to run towards a small bridge formed by an old street elevated by the thorns. The little rest she got wasn't near enough but she ran nonetheless.

"Right there!" She heard a familiar gruff shout which almost made her body freeze as unsavory memories surged from her mind. But she determinedly shook her head before continuing.

But a question intruded her mind.

Can she be faster than a revenant? Such a stupid thing to ask, but what can she do?

She is a human, she doesn't have super strength or spee-

'-I'm… a human…' She stopped and looked at her bandaged arms.

A firm gaze with a glint of madness landed on her curved sword… 'human blood attracts monsters and revenants alike…'

'A human… And I will die like one…' she wasn't dumb, she knew that she had only one way to avoid a fate where she lives as cattle for the rest of her life…

'So be it! Let's see if you die as a revenant or a lost!' She turned around and looked back at the three-man team running towards her. 

She could recognize the build and violet sparky hair of their leader, he was the head of the little hideout where she was their blood bag.

But in that small moment of decisiveness, she noticed something. Even if their masks hid most of their faces, she could tell their pale expressions. 

Why? Did they figure out her intentions? But even if they did, being this close and in the terrain of the park ruins, they would inevitably be circled by Lost once they detected the smell.

But it was something else, they weren't looking at her. They were scared of something else.

*badump*

She felt her own heartbeat, the familiar feeling that she clearly recalls when she escaped from them, running through lost… the weird moment of clarity, and the pumping adrenaline in her veins…

A life and death scenario.

And the danger wasn't the revenants coming for her…

'What are they-' 

It didn't take long for her head to turn slightly aside when she noticed a shadow covering her entirely and saw a monster that made every strand of hair on her body stand up.

An enormous black, skeletal maw with a giant tongue and ebony fangs was lunging toward her head. The multitude of yellow eyes stared at her like prey from the top of its head.

*Clank!*

But a crimson bullet struck the side of its head, directly hitting an eye.

*whom!*

"Ahh!" The attack might've missed, but the strength behind it was enough to make a strong rush of air that pushed her back and made her roll on the ground.

Once she managed to stop herself from rolling, she painfully got up but froze once she heard a gentle voice ask.

"Are you alright?" 

"I… um…" for a moment, she was bewildered by the woman wearing a mechanic hat who was squatting with her knees up to her chest near her. She almost looked like an angel but the moment the human escapee noticed the mask on who she believed to be her savior, she immediately retreated.

"G-g-et away!" She shrieked trying to search for her weapon only to realize she had dropped it.

*bam*   *wham!*    *clang!*       *Whom!*      *Calk!*         *Booom!*

She heard the sound of battle behind her and some people screaming. That alone told her that she was stuck between this seemingly harmless revenant and whatever the hell was the thing that attacked her fighting the revenants.

'How do I get out of this?' She felt her head throbbing. The fever was getting stronger and the scenario she found herself in made things much worse.

Her captors were just behind her and-

'-Wait, who is she?' She would've remembered someone with Io's characteristics… Was she new?

The human threw a glance behind her and saw two members of the trio that followed her on the ground with a tall muscular man with orange hair in a ponytail standing over them… the leader was standing in front of the latter with his sword drawn while a group of four fought the monster that almost turned her into mince meat.

'They are not from the same group…'

This was another chance for her.

'Think' 

It isn't rare for revenants to fight over blood beads, and that normally also applies to fighting over humans.

'Think'

Could she entice the leader and make the battlefield more chaotic?

'Think'

Create a chance where she can escape.

'Think'

Use her own blood to make the monster go berserk?

'Think' 

The woman before her was obviously there to keep her safe, can she use that to her advantage? 

'Think'

She can't outrun a revenant, after all. But how?

'Think!'

Her headache became worse as she strained her mind to the limit and her bloodshot eyes stared vigilantly at the woman ahead of her. She was unwilling to waste her one opportunity.

"Don't let the smoke touch you!!" A man with a black tinted mask screamed.

"I'm fu*king trying!!!" A black-haired man shouted back while jumping back from the purple smoke.

And that poisonous smoke gave the human girl her chance as-

"It's not safe here." And with her statement, the silver-haired woman carefully held the human who only let out a small yelp and moved back to avoid the poison.

The grip around her slender arms didn't feel like the cast iron grip a revenant should have, it clearly showed that she didn't injure the human.

This was something that didn't go unnoticed by her and immediately shook her hands off before throwing her bag to the woman's face and making a run for it.

"Wait-"

With ragged breathing, she made her way to a cave which she noticed had some military crates inside long worn down by time and usage… and a pale tree laid inside.

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Word Count: 2,682

Do you think that the change in the girl's behavior is a bit too bizarre?

I just thought that if a young woman manages to even survive one day in this world as a human between lost and revenants she needs to be gutsy, shrewd, and maybe have a screw loose.