The staircase felt endless. Each step creaked under our feet as if complaining about the weight of the world above. The sounds of battle grew distant, muffled by the thickness of the earth, but we could still feel the tremor of fighting and hear a few desperate screams.
The air there was hot and humid, and the light from Mei's baton cast our shadows dancing along the concrete walls. The purple notebook was still tight in my hands, but I could feel sweat running down my fingers, as if it pulsed on its own.
Raul came right behind me, breathing hard. Josh, panting, tried to keep up, gripping his crossbow firmly, his eyes alert and sometimes glancing back.
No one spoke.
No one dared.
"This won't end well…" Raul muttered through his teeth, too low, yet we all heard it.
"Shut up and keep moving," Josh shot back, breathless. "The hell up there is enough let's just do what the Counselor asked."
Raul snorted but didn't push it.
At last the sound of metal gave way to the hollow echo of our footsteps, and the stairs ended abruptly. Ahead of us, a large open bulkhead revealed an abandoned sewer tunnel.
The smell of rust and rot was strong, but not as strong as the warm air from the surface seeping through the cracks. The tunnel ended at a narrow opening where a sliver of light escaped.
Mei was the first to climb up, and when she lifted her face outside, she froze for a few seconds before whispering,
"We're outside."
One by one, we followed her. When I emerged, the cold night air hit me like a wave.
The sky was completely black, speckled with stars that seemed to shine brighter than they should. And among them… a violet aurora stretched and moved, as if the sky itself were wounded.
The sight was too beautiful to belong to that world.
"Stay together," Mei said, lowering the light. "We're not safe yet."
"Safe? Does that even exist now that the city's fallen?" Raul grumbled, looking around. "Let me guess… now we're the main course."
"Raul," Josh cut in, "if you're not going to help, shut up."
"You two," Mei snapped, turning, her voice sharp, "focus. One wrong sound and we're all dead."
It seemed we were in a forest. We walked over uneven ground, covered in ash and petrified roots. In the distance, we could see the outline of the city: that aurora seemed to light what remained of the ruined skyscrapers, making those dark stains look like a wound that was healing.
The silence was almost absolute. Only the wind and the crack of dead branches kept us company.
Then Josh, bringing up the rear, stopped walking.
"Wait…" he murmured. "Did you hear that?"
I hadn't heard anything, but only for a moment. A second later I caught it: a thin, metallic sound like blades vibrating in the air, climbing pitch by pitch, as if it were getting closer.
Suddenly, something moved ahead, among the dead trees. The shadows seemed to stretch and writhe. And then we saw them.
The creatures.
Tall, elongated bodies, skeletal, covered in a mixture of skin and meaty feathers.
Their skulls resembled crows or vultures long, narrow but clearly formed from deformed human bones.
From their backs jutted bony structures that vibrated, emitting that metallic ripping sound that made the air itself quiver.
Some had torn wings that tried and failed to beat. Others crawled, far too fast for something that looked like that.
And worst of all, where the neck should have been, a human face was still there, as if screaming silently. Carved forever in that hideous expression of terror.
"Ecorvos…" Josh whispered, voice breaking.
"It can't be… out here too?" Mei answered, eyes tense.
"Shit! What kind of rotten luck is this?" Raul snarled. "This is wrong. This is so wrong."
They surrounded us in seconds. Not an organized pack, but a chaotic swarm. They seemed driven by pure instinct, some even shoving each other to reach us first.
Mei raised her iron bar, Raul drew a knife, Josh lifted his crossbow, and they closed around me. I had no weapon, so all I could do was huddle with the notebook tight against my chest.
"Hold the line!" Mei shouted. "Don't let them split us up!"
"Easy for you to say!" Raul shot back, teeth grinding.
The first attack came from the side. One of them leapt from the shadows with a shrill screech. Raul spun and slashed its throat with a clean strike. A jet of dark, yellow-tinged blood sprayed out, but the thing didn't fall it only reeled back, howling.
"Go down, you bastard!" Raul roared and charged the beast.
"No, Raul!" Mei yelled, but he seemed lost in his fury. "Damn it!"
Another crawled up behind Josh, who was firing frantically to keep the ones rushing Raul at bay. I threw myself instinctively and shoved Josh aside, saving him from being shredded by a heartbeat.
Josh rolled and kicked one of the creatures still coming for us, then, without looking, tossed me a short knife.
"Take it, kid," he said, reloading the crossbow and firing again. The monster lunged once more, and he sank the bolt right into its neck. The sound was dry. It convulsed, gurgled, and dropped. It was the first one we killed, but no one felt relief.
My heart pounded so fast I could barely breathe. Two more came running, their deformed bodies moving in insane sync. Mei swung the iron bar and crushed the face of one. Raul, covered in blood, shouted something I couldn't make out.
"Die!" maybe that was it.
We fought however we could; every movement felt like a death sentence, every strike a desperate reaction. Josh loosed bolt after bolt, fast. Each hit sent a creature into spasms, but they wouldn't die.
There were too many.
One of them leapt at me, claws slashing the air. I rolled aside, but that claw seemed to chase me. In panic I could only shut my eyes. Then I felt hot liquid run down my face.
With my eyes still closed, I felt the creature collapse onto me, trembling, until it stopped moving.
"Josh!" Mei screamed.
Her cry made me flinch. I opened my eyes slowly.
Josh's headless body lay on top of me. The crossbow still in his hands trembled faintly.
Blood ran hot from my face down my neck, into my shirt collar. The stench was strong, mixed with the reek of the creatures, and my stomach churned.
It hadn't been the creature that fell on me at some point, Josh had stepped in front of me and shielded me. His head had rolled a few inches ahead, stopping with the face turned toward me. His eyes were still open, the fixed stare looking determined.
"Josh…" I whispered, my voice failing, and the wind brought the iron stink of blood again.
I couldn't help turning to the side to vomit or at least try. Even with my stomach empty, my body did it by reflex.
Raul, fighting another Ecorvo, glanced over his shoulder. For a second, his furious expression fell apart.
"Shit…" he muttered through clenched teeth, before tearing out the creature's throat in front of him.
Mei whirled, and her shout split the air.
"NO!"
She ran, smashing one of the monsters that approached, caving in its skull with a blow so hard the bar bent. Blood splattered, but she didn't stop. She crouched beside Josh's body, her face knotted with despair.
"He… he saved you," she said, voice thick, unable to look straight at me. "Damn it…"
The creatures' sounds still filled the air closer, more numerous.
Raul kicked one of the corpses and shouted,
"We need to get out of here, NOW!"
Mei drew a deep breath, eyes red. Then, without hesitation, she dragged Josh's body aside and grabbed my arm hard.
"Up, Noah! Now!"
Still in shock, I tried to stand, stumbling over the blood and scattered bones. My body shook, and the notebook nearly slipped from my hands. Mei shoved it back against my chest.
"Don't lose it," she said, firm. "Everyone is fighting to save you. So don't you dare lose it."
Raul covered the rear, hacking at the Ecorvos closing in.
"Mei, if we don't run, we die the same!" he yelled, gasping.
She nodded, teeth clenched, and yanked me toward a gap between the trees.
We left Josh's body there, still among the ash and dead trunks.
When I looked back one last time, most of the monsters were already around him, feasting. Playing with his body among themselves.
I don't know how long we ran. In the dark night, time didn't move. It could have been hours or just a few minutes.
"All right," Mei said, breath ragged, "I think we shook them. How are you two?"
Raul stopped, bending with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Blood ran from a cut on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to care.
"How am I?" he answered, with jittery laughter. "We just lost the old man and almost got eaten. I'm fantastic."
Mei shot him an icy look. Raul swallowed hard and looked away, kicking at the ground.
"Josh died to give us a chance, Raul," she said hoarsely. "He died trying to save the boy."
"I know," he replied, voice low, face twisted with anger. "I just… what's the point now? And why do we have to save him?"
I still couldn't speak. The weight of the notebook in my hands felt like it was crushing my fingers. The memory of Josh's hot blood running over me wouldn't leave my head. The smell, the dry thud of the body falling, the head… none of it would go away.
Mei sighed and looked around, ignoring him.
"We need to find shelter. They could come back any time."
The wind brought a biting cold.
"And if they do?" I asked, my voice wavering. "What do we do?"
Mei looked at me, but there didn't seem to be any emotion in her gaze.
"We fight," she answered. "Or we run. It's what we do."
Raul let out a dry laugh.
"Nice speech, captain. But what about the Counselor's plan, huh? 'Protect the boy.'" He glared at me with contempt. "You really think it was worth losing Josh for this?"
Before Mei could answer, I spoke. My voice was weak, but firm enough to be heard:
"I… I didn't ask him to die."
Raul snorted, clenching his fists and turning on me, his face warped by rage.
"Shut your mouth, kid!" he shouted, spitting on the ground. "You think you're special? Worth more than him? Everyone died because of you and you say you don't even know why!"
"Raul, stop," Mei tried to intervene, her voice steady. "This isn't the time."
"Not the time?" he rounded on her, shouting even louder. "This kid showed up out of nowhere, Mei, and since then everything we had collapsed! The Counselor, Josh… and now we're going to die just like them because of him!"
"I didn't ask anyone to die!" I shot back, feeling my voice crack but still loud enough to echo through the trees. "I don't even know what's happening!"
Raul took a step forward, eyes full of hate.
"Then you better figure it out fast, before everyone ends up dead!"
Mei exhaled.
"Enough," she said, stopping and looking our way. "The Counselor gave us a mission, and I'll carry it out until"
Her voice cut off abruptly. My eyes widened in horror as her head arced away in a red spray.
For a moment, no one moved. Mei's body stayed upright for a beat before collapsing heavily over the dead roots.
An Ecorvo, bigger than any we'd faced, stood behind her. Its torn wings beat slowly, releasing a harsh sound of metal tearing flesh. The bony blade that replaced one of its hands still dripped hot blood.
Raul screamed and charged it, knife in hand.
"SON OF A BITCH!" he roared, leaping at the monster.
He slashed its neck with colossal fury, but the creature didn't retreat. It seemed a cue for the others to emerge from the shadows, gliding over the ground like silent predators.
"Shit! Run, Noah!" he yelled, turning for an instant, his face smeared with blood and despair. "RUN!"
Three more Ecorvos pounced on him. Raul still tried to fight, screaming as blades and claws tore him apart. Even as he fell, he looked toward me and, with a pained smile, repeated,
"Run… kid…"
Then the sound of flesh being ripped filled the air.
It snapped me out of it, and when I tried to move, the ground seemed to spin. My vision blurred, and for a second I didn't understand what I was seeing.
My body pitched forward… and then I realized. I was looking at myself or rather, at my headless body lying on the ground, motionless.
Time seemed to stop. The violet aurora swallowed the sky, the sound of screams dissolved, and the familiar screen appeared once more before my eyes:
[MEMORY DEVIATION CORRECTED]
[INITIATING CYCLE RECONNECTION…]
The ground split open, and the violet aurora swept over everything, until the world went completely black.