15 Chapter 15: Natives

...Huey and Lyra continued their seemingly aimless journey through the wasteland of apocalypse, accompanied by a new and unassuming companion this time.

"Hey, Addy. Don't stray too far or you could get hurt...hey, Addy!"

"What do you think you're doing, you little brat —get...off me! Wanna die?!" Huey protested reaching his long arms for the small little girl that hung around his neck and swung around.

Addy would sharply jump down his torso, avoiding the capture of Huey's hands, and then crawl around his bare upper body like a ticklish insect.

A small and fast ticklish insect.

"Stop that! It's not funny...pffff..." Despite his protest, Huey quickly broke into unrestrained laughter from all the ticklish movements made by the little kid.

"Hoo, big bro is so tall..." 

"Alright, Addy. That's enough," Lyra scolded, "get off him, or else, not even I will be able to help you next."

And before Addy could understand what exactly Lyra meant by that, she heard a dark voice like a growl.

"Hey," Huey bellowed with a smile. A distorted smile displaying his sharp teeth and veins popping all around his face, "Didn't I tell you to cut it out, you little brat?" His fingers quickly grabbed the girl's head and lifted her in a tight grip.

Addy could only protest with tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"You really wanna have fun, huh?" Huey's distorted smile grew as it inched wider, "then how about a merry-go-round..." Then he brutally proceeded to spin the girl by holding her from one leg while laughing maniacally. (Do not try this at home).

"Uwaaaaaaaa~!"

A few minutes later, Addy was throwing up, uneasy on her feet, while Heuy watched from a short distance while grinning from ear to ear, relishing the sight.

"Are you sure, though," Lyra walked up to him and asked uncertainly, maintaining a strange gaze on the little girl finding it hard to stand up straight, "about what you said earlier?"

Huey turned his head and gave a casual glance before looking away.

"I know what I said," he added dryly, then shifted, "more importantly..." He cast a longer glance under the questioning gaze of Lyra.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Eventually, he posed the question.

Lyra stuttered and stumbled on her feet.

"W...what does that mean? Of...of course I'm alright. I'm fine, perfectly fine!" She protested.

Huey hummed meaningfully then shrugged the matter off for the meantime.

Lyra had been increasingly appearing more paler than usual. The strange symptoms that plagued her within intervals became incessant and slowly biting away at her vitality.

Lyra felt cold, while her body burned with heat past the average temperature. She sweated more profusely and her vision and consciousness flickered and fluttered within shorter intervals for longer periods.

Her mind grew groggier with each second that passed. She found it hard to breathe, each breath she took felt too shallow and unable to reach all the places needed throughout her body. Her joints slowly ached, and her fingertips grew still with numbing cold.

But Lyra struggled and persisted. All for naught, however, before Huey's prying eyes.

"Well, if you say so." He responded looking away.

"Hey, you little brat. Are you sure we're in the right place?" Huey moved away from Lyra and complained.

By this time, Addy had managed to regain some level of composure as she looked up resolutely at Huey's face from below.

Then she rose a single finger, her brown eyes burned with determination:

"One more time." She said.

Huey popped another vein.

"You, f*cking little—"

"Hold on — hold on! She's just a kid, remember?" Lyra quickly intervened rushing in between the two with raised arms.

Addy blinked innocently at the two, unaware of anything. That fat round dumb face she made irked Huey!

Lyra smiled wryly then turned to the little girl and asked softly.

"Addy, can you tell us how much further we are from the Tribe?"

Addy nodded and placed a finger to her chin, in thought.

Huey and Lyra made the decision to accompany the little girl...or rather, they agreed to let her come with them. After hearing about the Outsiders, the remnant of humanity who couldn't run behind the safety of the walls, he developed a slight interest and curiosity towards these people.

But that was only second to the other reason.

According to what Lyra explained to him, these Outsiders have managed to live and survive outside the Fortress for more than fifty years, they were bound to certain secrets and knowledge of one thing or the other that those of the Fortress wouldn't have realized. They just might be who could turn Huey in the right direction leading to his old neighborhood.

All of it would have been much easier if it weren't a naive little girl he had run into instead, however.

But even this little girl, seemingly naive and innocent, was an enigma in her own right.

The few days Huey has spent traveling alone with Lyra, he was forced to understand the status quo was entirely different from what he left behind. Now there were strange people with strange abilities called Knights in a world brimming with monsters and corruption. Even the air was unbreathable.

Only these Knights could brave the contaminated air without risks. And that's only because they possess a strange energy called "Mana" radiation. 

These superhumans were created from the safeties of the Fortresses, so the Outsiders being able to have survived outside the Walls this long without support, at the same time possessing "Mana" raises an inquisitive eyebrow.

But as Huey still wasn't one of this Era, he couldn't completely determine what the implications of that could mean. He only knew it was off.

Lyra on the other hand found it simply befuddling. 

On second thought... hadn't everything that had happened ever since she met Huey three days ago been simply impossible? 

Yes... she was quickly running out of gasps and surprised shocks.

Addy hummed as she looked around her surroundings; ruined buildings and scorched ground as far as anyone could look.

"Addy thinks we should be just around the—" and before the little girl could finish, the three heard a resounding crash and jerked their heads towards a swelling dust cloud a few hundred meters away.

Before they could make out a shape, something flew out of the dark clouds at a startling speed like an azure streak, and crashed with a heavy weight into the ground where they stood.

[BOOM]

The earth trembled while the ground shattered, raising a black cloud of dust that swallowed up everything nearby.

The very next second three figures flew out of the ever consuming cloud and up into the air.

Lyra yelped at the sudden ascension as she was lifted by one arm of Huey with Addy hanging carelessly from the collar of her gown held tightly in Huey's teeth, his other hand grasping his black sword.

By the time he 'stood' above the dispersing dust cloud below, Huey's sclera had turned black and the orange vertical pupils of his red eyes peered forward into the distance as he glared.

From a full mouth, he warned:

"We have company." 

His figure descended back to the ground...or tried to at least.

As soon as his bare feet grazed the rough ground, Huey made the vague shape of an azure chain piercing apart the dust cloud and cracking the air with a bang, flying straight at them.

He cursed internally and kicked off back into the sky with the tip of his toe.

The massive azure chain crashed at the very spot he was half a second ago, as Huey landed a few meters more behind.

"Wh-what was that?!" Lyra cried as she struggled on her feet, and then Huey growled as he continued to peer forward:

"Hide."

Saying so, he grabbed the two girls before they could protest and threw both of them out of the way. The very next second, something crashed into his figure with a loud bang, blowing him off his feet and down the withered street.

[BOOM]

"Huey!!" Lyra cried.

"Intruders. You Wall Devils should have known better to hide behind your little barricade." A heavy voice resounded and in the same spot Huey was only a second ago, the burly figure of a large man with mane-like hair standing with a large fist wrapped in heavy chains forward unfolded before Lyra's wide trembling eyes.

'He's fast! I couldn't even see him arrive!' she thought feverishly.

Whoever this man was, to someone of Lyra's level, it was like he had simply come into existence from the very spot he stood.

But Lyra didn't have time to linger in confusion. From behind her, she heard the rattling of chains, and her guard trained as a Hunter for years rose sharply as she turned her head.

From the darkness, six pairs of glowing azure eyes hovered at her, as three figures of slender women stepped out, each with slender chains wrapped down their hands.

Their tribal appearance was enough for Lyra to realize who her attackers were and she grimaced, preparing for an inevitable confrontation.

"Outsiders!"

These were the natives of the apocalypse.

***

A/N: 

Made it in time for this chapter, but it looks like I might have to adjust the release schedule over time again. But I promise, to do my best.

I started this as a trial run, but it seems I like writing RED so maybe I'll continue. 

Maybe.