We waited in silence, I could still hear the faint, rapid footsteps of something running nearby. After what should have been a few minutes, we heard another sound, which sent a chill down my spine.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
What I saw was far from a human. It walked on its four skeletal limbs, its eyes dripping blood. It didn't have a mouth, ears, or any other facial features, just two hollow pits where its eyes should have been.
We both ducked down and hid in horror. Praying it didn't see us, but to our horror, we could hear the footsteps getting closer toward us.
Tap, Tap, Tap.
"Fuck no please no go away, don't come near us." I whispered under my breath.
Each step it took, I could feel my hopes shattering. It was almost as if it could sense us.
Suddenly, a sharp piercing sound echoed throughout the ruined city. The sound of a siren, I clutched my ears.
The creature let out an inhumane shriek before it rushed towards the source of the sound.The sound continued for a while until it eventually stopped, and everything went silent again.
I peeked outside through the shattered window. Nothing. The street was empty. Filled with cold winds flowing and the sound of thunder.
"We're safe" I muttered, relief washing over me.
I went to check on Zei, she was fine, except for the blood pouring from her ears.
"This place is not safe," she murmured
"We need to leave before another one of those terrifying abomination comes back and tears us apart "
"It's not a good idea to head out at night." I said, hesitant "If that thing chases us down, we're dead"
"It's better than hiding in this cramped place. If that creature returns, we will have nowhere to run," Zei argued.
She had a point. I weighed our odds—bleak as they were—but hiding here wasn't an option anymore.
"...Fine"
We gathered our things and headed outside, deciding to continue in the same direction we were initially heading. Fortunately, the creature seemed to have run in the opposite direction.
The winds were very strong. The rain hasn't stopped, still pouring lightly.
Soon, we faced our first obstacle—a building had collapsed ahead and was blocking the only road forward.
"We will have to climb it." Zei said.
"Let's hurry," I said, making our way forward towards the fallen debris.
The slope had become very slippery due to rain, but after some struggle, we were finally able to cross and reach the other side.
Continuing forward, the winds started to get stronger, I could hear the thunderous sound of lightning striking in the distance.
"Looks like it's going to get worse, we have to hurry," Zei muttered as we picked up our pace, searching for a new secure shelter.
Unfortunately, it seems like luck was not on our side today, as just a mere minutes later, rain started pouring down heavily, accompanied by strong winds obstructing our vision but we persisted and continued travelling forward.
As we moved forward looking for a shelter, I suddenly saw a flicker of light coming from a building in the distance.
My heart pounded, we finally saw signs of people. We might be able to get some help.
"There's light," Zei exclaimed "Lets go check it out, someone might be there"
"Yes, but we need to be careful," I warned, unsheathing my sword. "We don't know if they will be friendly towards us or not," Zei agreed, pulling out her dagger, we made our way forward
The building was huge, the light was coming from inside. I carefully glanced inside the building through a shattered window
Two tents set up close to each other in the center, a gas stove burning, and a strange-looking lamp, which seemed to be the source of the light we saw. However, I couldn't spot any humans in sight. I looked around but found no one.
"See anyone?" Zei asked from behind, her voice low
"No, it seems like they are not here at the moment,"
"Let's head inside for now, the storm is getting stronger."
We entered cautiously, we were both drenched and the storm was getting stronger. All the firewood we had was soaked, so we simply had no other choice but to enter the building and ignore the potential danger for now.
I gripped my sword tightly as we made our way inside.
Entering the building, we saw cans of what I presume were instant coffee and packaged food wrappers littering the floor. Whoever had stayed here wasn't far, judging by the still burning stove.
"We should hurry and take whatever is necessary. I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble here," Zei suggested as she headed inside one of the tents, rummaging through the supplies.
"Gosh, there is so much packaged food here, oh, a compass and well and a bottle too, looks like we hit the jackpot, Rayne," Zei said from inside the tent with excitement apparent in her voice.
I smiled faintly.
"There is even a spare backpack there for you guys to carry all the supplies in, oh but please leave some coffee. I need it in the morning" suddenly an unfamiliar voice echoed from behind.