After I woke her up, we started walking along the riverbank.
After an hour of walking I was able to see a bridge, in the distance. This should mean we were getting closer to that city.
Although she had already slowed down considerably, I wanted to at least reach the bridge before we set up camp.
Even after another hour of walking, we were still far away. And she was already panting heavily. I picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way. She didn't protest being picked up.
Another hour passed before we reached the bridge. On the other side I could see a building... "A petrol pump?" I mumbled to myself.
As I got closer, I got a clearer view. "It is." I remarked. I might find a car here.
As I was walking toward the building, still carrying her, I wondered what type of car I might find.
Most cars ran on biogas. Though they used to run on petrol and other fossil fuel, long ago. The petrol pumps were places where cars refuelled, but it now works as a pit stop. There were still some cars that ran on petrol. I hoped I wouldn't find petrol car here.
As I'd reached the building, it looked relatively unharmed. And fortunately there was a truck parked there. From the looks of it, the people who took care of this place, left in a hurry a long time ago.
I entered the building. It didn't have power, but there was an intact bed. I left her there, before coming back to the truck.
The truck looked to be in good shape. Though the colour had chipped, and there was some rust, it should run. I needed the key first however.
And it ran on biogas. It also had a chamber to keep bio degradable items to produce biogas as well.
I could look for the keys in the building, but before that I decided to prepare for breakfast, and went to fish.
This time even after half an hour of fishing, I could only catch two edible fish. I decided to harvest one of the crops boxes, and made a soup using the crops and the fish.
After I was done making the soup. I went back to the room where I left her. As I opened the door, she immediately turned toward the gate, almost like she was waiting for me.
Looking at the bowl, which I had collected from the petrol pump to make the soup, she asked, "Not dried fish?"
"No. Do you like dried fish?"
"No."
I noded, "I see. Sorry, I can't make soup every day."
She shook her head, "I understand."
I smile, "Well... Since I did just harvest some crops, we can have soup for the next few days."
She nodded simply. I couldn't see any excitement in her face as she replied, "I'd like that."
I sat next to her on the bed, giving her a spoon. There was only one good bowl here, so we had to share it.
After we were done eating, I couldn't help but stare at her. Sunlight filtering through the only window in the room, illuminated her sky-blue hair with a golden glow. She turned to me, her sky-blue eyes staring at me. Yet they had no child like wonder... No emotion. I had only ever seen her cry.
I sighed closing my eyes. Her hair, her eyes, her thin frame... Everything about her reminded me... of her. How she looked, How she behaved... How I couldn't save her. Making feel like I would fail to save... That reminded me I still hadn't asked her name.
I opened my eyes, turning to her, "Hey... so, um... We haven't introduced ourselves have we?"
"No, we haven't."
I smiled. "You can call me Jakub. And you are?"
"Angelica, Angelica Aliot."
I closed my eyes. "Angelica, ehh... How about... I called you Angel?" I asked. Angel... Why did I asked to call her that? That's her name... My sister's name.
She tilted her head. "Angel... Sounds nice." She said, but her expression stays emotionless.
I sighed, before nodding. "Angel it is, then." I said, standing up, "I need to search for the car key, would you like to help?"
We looked through the desks throughout the building. She finally found a car key in a desk near the front gate.
I then tried the keys on the truck. It started, and seemed to be in working condition.
I loaded the trolley and biogas container onto the truck's back. There was still more than enough room, to double the crop capacity.
There was a pile at a corner of the building. I might find some boxes and transparent plastic from there.
As I went to the pile, slowly moving the garbage around, She came to help - all on her own.
As we continued to sort through the trash, I asked, "Will you mind if I ask something, Angel?"
she replied in her lifeless, monotone voice, "No."
I stared at her for a moment before asking, "What happened to your parents?"
She paused, almost twitched at the question. There was still no discernible expression on her face, as she answered, "They died... I was 5? or maybe 4. We were on a public bus. Some scary people came in. They had guns. They pointed the guns at the driver. At an intersection a truck collided with the buss. Some spikes came in... Went right through several people including some of those scary guys. The buss spun and stopped on a train track. The train came, halving the bus. My parents were still holding me tight. But then a bright light... And-" I hold her shoulder, as I feel a jolt go through her body, "That's enough... Don't continue."
"Bu-but I see that every day... Whenever I dream." she explained, with her usual dead voice.
I patted her head, "You must be thinking about them all they time. Try not thinking about them, okay?" I was trying to be understanding, but my voice came out a bit stern.
"O-okay." she answered, tilting her head slightly.
We had already collected the sheets of plastic and boxes we needed. I readied the three boxes with soil and seeded them. Then I carried them over to the truck, loading them on the back.
The truck's tank was half full. It should run for 3 days, less if its engine is worse than I expected it to be.
After readying everything I went to catch more fish. This time however, I only got mutated fish in 2 hours of fishing.
I made some soup again. Before having her sleep, I proceeded to block any gates and windows other than the front gate. I used boards I found lying all around the petrol pump.
After she was asleep, I went ahead and marked the tree around the pump with the scales, hoping it will deter mutants like yesterday.
As the night grew darker, the howls also grew closer. I unsheathed one of the swords, with my right hand, my left arm was still a little hurt, from falling in that pit.
From the howls and growls, I could tell there weren't many around the pump.
After another minute the howls and growls suddenly stopped. Not too long after, a wolf jumped at me.
I stepped to the side, as another one leaped at me. It was a pack, and unlike the last time they were not attacking individually.
Another one jumped toward me, I stepped to the left, As I held out the sword in its path, the wolf went right through cutting in half with no real effort from me.
Another one leapt at me as I swung at its neck, cutting it clean off before it could reach me.
The others paused for a moment. They were likely revaluating their options. One of them tried running straight for the front gate of the petrol pump. I swung at it before it could pass me, cutting it in half.
Another immediately jumped toward me, I swung at it, but before the blade would connect, another pushed it away. A wolf attacked me from behind, I leapt forward, before turning and slicing at it, cutting its head in half.
Immediately after that, another one attacked me not being ready I just leaped towards another one near me, and with one slice I cut it into half.
They took another pause, circling me for an opening. Looking around there were 5 left.
For a minute neither I or they made a move. Then I lifted my left leg giving the impression I'll step to the left. Taking the bait one of them attacked, but before my blade could connect another one pushed it away.
While I was still mid swing, a third one attacked me from behind. I stepped toward the second one, that pushed the first, slashing at them. I ended up cutting the second one in half, the first one nearly in half. 3 left.
Two of them attacked from either side of me. I stepped forward, but the third one was waiting for me there. It tried slashing at my feet. I swung downward, kicking off some dust with the sword, and cleanly cutting its claws off. It never reached my feet.
The dust and wound made it recoil, giving me the opportunity to cut its head off. 2 left.
As a last-ditch effort, the other two lunged at me from behind, I took another step forward, before turning and swinging at them in a smooth motion using all the momentum from the motion. Cutting the necks of both at once.
Before the bodies of the two wolves could hit the ground, I noticed another entering the petrol pump. Time seem to slow down for a moment, my legs sprinted after it, as if by instinct.
I threw the sword followed by the spear, followed by the axe without thinking once.
I was able to reach it right before it could take step inside the room where Angel was sleeping. With one swift swing, I cut its head clean off.
Afterwards, I looked around the building. The howls and growls seemed distant now. After a few minutes of looking around I concluded, nothing else was in the vicinity.
I cut the wolves into pieces putting them in the decomposition tank of the truck. Then I cleaned the blood stains with the river water, Angel didn't need to see any blood unnecessarily.
It was still the middle of the night by the time I was done. Nothing came close while I cleaned everything, further solidifying my belief that nothing new will attack us.
I sat near the bed where she was sleeping. I held her hand as I closed my eyes. Surprisingly first time in a long time I had a dream while sleeping.