Chapter 65: Entering Serbia

Looking at Sara, I grabbed the backpack out of her hands, which was currently filled to the brim with water bottles and numerous Romanian snacks she got from a vending machine; where she found one, I don't know, but it was not really the point. What confused me slightly was why she brought so many snacks; like, I know we're going to stay in Serbia for the whole day, but damn.

"You really aren't trying to starve, are you Sara." Remarked Tut with a raised eyebrow as he wore the backpack and walked beside Sara, the two exiting from the hotel.

"What do you mean by that, Pharaoh? I needed to get enough food for the both of us." Replied Sara as she gave Tut a weird look while he just shook his head.

"You know, I don't need to eat food; it's more of a luxury than anything." Said Tut lightly, causing Sara to snap her fingers and point at him.

"Oh yeah, now that you mention that, I do remember you saying that; well, it's fine, nothing wrong with having extra food." Stated Sara with a nod before shrugging her arms, the two forgetting about it.

Walking towards an isolated alley, away from immediate eyes, I expanded my hearing until I heard people speaking in Serbia, which let me know the direction I needed to be running in.

"Alright, you ready?" Asked Tut as he looked at Sara, who nodded vigorously, prompting him to reach forward and take her into his arms.

I quickly covered Sara in my power, which I've decided to just call aura for now. Once Sara was fully covered with my aura, I looked down at her before taking a step forward, causing the world around me to slow down to a mere crawl as I ran out of the alley and back into the open streets of Timisoara. With everything around me slowed down, although I knew I was moving exceptionally fast, to me, it felt like I was running normally; it didn't really feel like I was running extremely fast or anything.

'I wonder if this is how the Flash feels?' Thought Tut curiously as he looked around the cars driving on the street and the occasional passerby on the sidewalk.

Looking back down at Sara, as she was enveloped in my aura, I didn't know whether her perception of time would slow down, though that didn't seem to be the case; she was still looking at me while in the middle of blinking, which was slightly amusing.

"Is it just me, or has Sara seemed more beautiful lately?" Muttered Tut softly as he looked down at Sara in his arms, staring right into her bright green eyes.

Shrugging my arms at my own question, I looked ahead, focusing back on the task at hand as I ran through the city before exiting it, taking a shorter path while running through grassland and a small forest. When I arrived close to the border, I noticed a large metal fence wall, along with a military-style vehicle patrolling around the fence, probably checking for any illegal immigrants and possible attackers.

However, seeing as my path was in the clear, I didn't stop running and continued forward, leaping right over the fifteen-foot tall fence before landing right on the other side, yet the instant I did so, I heard a click coming from underneath my feet, and it only took me a mere moment to realize what that noise was.

'A fucking landmine that I was just unlucky enough to land on.' Mused Tut with an annoyed expression as he looked at the ground around him, noticing multiple landmines hidden under a few inches of dirt.

Well, I couldn't stay standing here, so I dashed forward, stepping off the landmine, which clicked once more before it suddenly erupted in an explosion; glancing behind me, I saw a fiery explosion erupt in slow motion, which was quite beautiful. Outrunning the explosion, I made sure not to step on any other land mines as I dashed out of the vicinity.

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"Ho, we should be far enough away now." Muttered Tut as he came to a halt in the middle of a forest after running several miles away from the Romanian border, causing the world to return to normal.

"Eh, are we already in Serbia? It's only been, like, what, two seconds?" Remarked Sara in astonishment as she looked around, noticing trees surrounding them and not a brick wall.

"What can I say? I'm just fast like that, Sara; you won't ever come across someone like me." Replied Tut proudly with a smirk as he looked down at Sara, who gave him a blank expression.

"So, is there a negative to having superspeed, or what?" Asked Sara with a raised eyebrow, causing Tut to smile sheepishly.

"None that I know of yet, but if I find any, I'll make sure you're the first person to know." Said Pharaoh awkwardly while Sara just rolled her eyes.

"So, where should we go first, Sara? I can hear what sounds like a few refugee camps, multiple military outposts, and places where the sides are fighting, which isn't even on the table to visit." Asked Pharaoh curiously as he ran forward, though he was running at normal speed this time.

"Those are places I should visit, but first, I'm more eager to find a war-torn city, as bad as that sounds." Replied Sara with a thoughtful expression before looking up at Tut.

"Well, that's going to be slightly difficult. A city ravaged by the effects of war will usually be abandoned and, in turn, quiet; don't you have a map, Sara?" Remarked Tut with a slight frown as he tried narrowing down the search, though it wasn't proving effective since so many people were lamenting about their homes, towns, and cities.

"Oh yeah, you're right; I've been relying on your powers so much, Pharaoh, that I momentarily forgot." Said Sara with a small smile as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a large paper map and blocking Tut's view.

"Okay, so we should be right around in this area, and if we continue heading west while going slightly south, we should run into a city, which I've learned was destroyed in a battle not too long ago." Muttered Sara with a pondering look as she seriously observed the map while Tut slightly shifted his direction to the south.

"Hold on tight then; the ride is not over." Said Tut with a smirk as he started speeding up.

"Wait, give me a sec-" Said Sara, though while she was still talking, Tut was moving at such speeds that she might as well have been frozen.

Dashing through the forest, after some time, I started to come across rubble sprawled across the earth, and as I continued running, it only got more common until I exited from the sea of trees and stood before a ruined city.

"-To put away the map-Woah, is this the city?" Remarked Sara as she folded her paper map, only to freeze when she noticed the destroyed city before her.

"Yeah, and just a heads up, but I can smell a scent of blood wafting through the air; we will probably come across a lot of corpses." Said Tut with a frown, though his words didn't mean much when a few dead bodies were already visible from where they stood.

"Y-Yeah, I imagined." Muttered Sara with an uncomfortable expression when she noticed the several bodies lying dead on the ground for who knew how long.

Setting Sara down, she instantly grabbed her camera, which was hanging from her neck, and took a picture of the city. We then began walking to the city, though we did so slowly, as even on the outskirts of the place, there was so much debris, and you could easily twist your ankle with a single misstep.

As we got closer to the city, we came across a few dead bodies; looking at them, they were wearing military outfits, which, I suppose, made their deaths slightly better, but hardly. After Sara took a picture of them, we continued heading forward, occasionally stopping so she could take some pictures.

"I've seen pictures of the devastation left behind by war, but I feel like the pictures don't do them justice." Said Sara with a frown as she carefully walked through the destroyed city while observing the extent of the damage.

"Yeah, war isn't something one ever wants to experience; too many deaths. What are the two sides even fighting for?" Remarked Tut while frowning as she shook his head, walking right beside Sara.

"I don't fully know." Replied Sara as she stopped and took a picture of a multi-story building with a missile sticking out from it.

"Hey, let's go in there, Pharaoh." Added Sara, walking toward the building she had just taken a picture of.

"Just make sure to stay close to me; that missile didn't go off for some reason." Said Tut as he closely walked beside Sara, the two heading towards the building.

Before even entering the building, I sported an ugly expression, and when Sara finally entered the building, she, too, saw what I had seen.

"M-My god." Muttered Sara with a sickening expression as she stared at the massacre within the lobby of the apartment building.

In the lobby of the building were tens of corpses, with most having died from bullet wounds; though, unlike the military soldiers we saw outside, everyone in here was dressed like your everyday person. Seeing so many innocent civilians dead on the ground was terrible; women, men, the elderly, and children, no one was spared from their ruthless culling.

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Sara got Pharaoh in his feelings😏🥰. Though I feel like I should mention something else considering what's being focused on this chapter.