Chapter 16

  It was eerily silent for one singular second. So much so that William let go of the tendril wrapped around his leg.

  Closing his eyes, he waited with his back facing the monster.

  Moment.

  Another moment.

  He knelt there, full of unfamiliar and empty thoughts and a blank mind. Even his Emblem accepted its end. The storm swirled inside the Emblem to no avail. William faced no nightmare this time; it made sense to not see it coming, even if it was dishonest.

  A loud crash and pushes of wind, followed by something else that he couldn't care about, rang behind his back. Only the sounds and wind had come; nothing he could see.

  No death came. No voice chimed to his head either, but a little buzzing returned like moans and tried to propel him forward. The tendril around his leg lost its strength, sliding off as if it was no longer so tough and tight.

  Noticing it, William kicked it away, before walking forth, limping as his right side strained his whole walk. Fearing the monster's comeback, he decided to not turn around just in case it would come back. That should get the job done. He should make sure it would never appear behind him ever again.

  “It works. The monster is not coming.” William mumbled to himself with the last bit of strength and reached the edge of the square.

  Not far from his initial position was Carnijaw's lifeless body, forced deep into the square. Spread and lifeless, its limbs convulsed and twitched, and it was about ten feet away from William's previous position. It could've killed him with its tendrils but didn't.

  Unfortunately, it didn't eat with them, yet it could snatch him and kill him. Frankly, it turned stupid when it wanted to finish everything with its primary jaw. So much for the great Berserk Dark Aspect and its hunt.

  It was very close, but forced in its head was a large crimson spear that killed it for good. It helped William for the second time on this foreboding day. Made of unknown radiating crimson energy, it killed this Carnijaw instantly and turned its head into a sizzling mash of gue. The limbs were broken but intact.

  After a few moments, the spear flew away, disappearing in a blink to a not-so-distant battle that was shaking the whole camp from the depths of the Dark Fog.

  William was unaware of some savior, but he understood how soaked and trembling this camp became. It was nothing worth mentioning; he had so much satisfaction after realizing that no monsters came to him when he wasn't looking at them.

  He reached the building complex made of thick walls and fewer corpses around it. That could mean something good, he believed. There were no windows, so it looked more like a series of large slabs of rocks and cement built together. There were tiny little vents for air, looking like tubes, or ventilating shafts. He was small, though he was unable to get into them.

  Banging on the doors ended up fruitless. He got no response. Within a few minutes of his tries, he figured bunkers were likely closed, but why?

  Weren't dangers for bunkers? His mother told it, or did his father say it first?

  More minutes passed with him banging on various walls of this bunker. He even forgot the issue of potential monsters behind his back, but he knew that if he didn't look, nothing would come. William guaranteed this by being front-faced against the walls. He went around the building complex awkwardly, looking for a way inside.

  As expected, more blood followed those sides, with even some Darks munching some corpses around like hungry beasts and... people. Corrupted humans looked like straight-up nightmares. They were far too busy caring for their meal or fighting each other than to look at William. Once again, he hadn't seen them, so he had no idea that some glanced at him but considered their meal as their priority, or that he was small and unworthy of their tries.

  His shallow Emblem probably helped with that, but it was still notable with movement and a red thin glint. The skin around it was pushed to its limits, shivered, and darker, and veins seemed broken like skin, vessels, and bones.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  But William moved the arm just fine, which was curious, yet welcomed. It wasn't alone. Everything hurt that day.

  His eyes faced the walls, and even if he had seen some bloody imprints, it was probably a work of art. Being ignorant while going forward wasn't a bad thing. His mother would praise him for such an idea, William acknowledged.

  He wasn't a weak-minded, nor a strong-willed boy. He was just a kid growing up in this lost world while not being regular. Not anymore. Today, he became normal while turning his life upside down because of his own actions. Frankly, his parents were at fault.

  William went through hundreds of corpses, stepped on them, bathed in them, or saw them, but what was dead wouldn't eat him, or hurt him.

  The apocalypse was nasty when it hit like this, but what did it even matter when one was dull or used? How many times was it, and how many humans kept going? Struggle wee inevitable and nothing strange, if not unworthy of mentioning. Humanity had long turned obsolete, yet the planet kept going as if it didn't care.

  Perhaps it was even more lively than before, although it was a matter of perspective how one looked at this era, Darks, nature, Walkers, and their struggles.

  Apart from his Emblem, William might be considered a normal boy. The Emblem was a way and token for the future. Many considered Walkers an evolution of the human race.

  However, what were Darks, if not that?

  It was curious, yet unfair for most people. Many regular people didn't think that being a Walker was poor and great. They didn't envy such heavy responsibility, nor did they want to face Darks and those Fogs. There were fewer choices for them.

  Regular survivors had many choices and they could work for Walkers, around settlements, or for themselves. Of course, with dangers around, it was never that bright.

  Darks focused on Walkers much more. When Rifts opened, or Incursion happened, Walkers were the general cause.

  People fought but running away and hiding sounded better, if not safer. Many places had plans for that and this camp was no different. Alas, some plans turned to shit and pieces.

  Blatant to the barren square, William found a rare peace.

  Dark gave him no regard after the worse bunch had gone for new locations. He looked around for ten minutes and overcame his tiredness with soft breaths and slow steps. In a place devoid of living beings, it sounded silly to hope. William didn't know that. It sounded good since there was nothing for Darks.

  He was tired of thinking and didn't want to hear anything, but above him was a big turmoil, and his heart and Emblem kept his mind busy.

  As he moved blankly for survival, buildings beside him blew up into a huge concrete mess and rocky debris, stumbling him dozens of feet away. It was sudden and without some effort beforehand. Big rocks went for his head but they either turned to halves or disintegrated when he moved his arms over his head. Closing his eyes, he couldn’t see what happened.

  Something massive forced into the bunkers, and the rest of the walls cracked. They were gone, exposed to pieces like a wave of a hand over a house made of cards.

  William couldn't see what caused it, but the walls and safety of this bunker became a spiral coming at him like a deadly wave, rather than a safety. William faced crushing boulders. Behind them, dark round Arcana struggled, looking like flames exposed to green poison, or a spiraling massive cocoon size of a building. It was fighting something when the debris flew and William was too tired to move, let alone think.

  Large noises swallowed him and his mind turned blank. William was unable to notice how different darkness flashed and something red moved, snatching him away.

  William didn't like that noise. It felt like a moon went against him.

  He was unable to feel helpless; he just sated his hands, clueless that he couldn't even move his body.

  Instincts can be frightening. Not like the monster size of a four-story building, or an attack of similar size that killed it.

  The monster was a piece of flesh the size of stalls, and the gobbled-up energy exploded, leaving buildings in pieces. Wind and debris blew into the wind, destruction settled in a pile of dust, and lingering Dark Fog continued as always.

  Blank and tired, William lost consciousness after that force slammed into him.

  ***

  Unknown time passed. William shed no goals and dreams for safety. He felt sorry for his hand, and he shouldn't have dreamed of his mother's hand. It made him shiver and sad, but he couldn't sleep forever, for this memory wasn't over yet. It kept going surprisingly well, and numerous explosions moved next.

  He saw how that outbreak broke that building to pieces. It was almost impressive how he watched it at all.

  He woke up in the darkness, shivering, bleeding, and not knowing where he was. He was unaware he was underneath the former Camp Nolan's buildings. Stone, wood, pieces of concrete, and rocks surrounded him, acting as a weird safe zone because there was no way out or in.

  He had trouble waking up and moving. For some reason, his mind felt restless as if his injuries weren't that small, or something hot kept his mind aflame. He couldn't see anything, though he felt heat and something flowing all over him. Something felt very wrong. It became worse when the noises came back.

  Then, the voice. Was it the annoying one, or the one that was so much worse?

  He quickly realized it was neither; it was a crying voice.

  “You… awake?” a crying boy around his age asked, coming from a proximity of this tight space. He sat there, weeping as someone who shared a similar fate as William.

  It was Dann.