Morning came slowly.
Not with sunlight, but with silence.
Zero opened his eyes first.
The cave was cold, the fire long dead. Aira was still asleep, her breathing steady. For a moment, everything felt unreal — like the world hadn't ended at all.
Zero stood up quietly.
His eyes moved toward the far end of the cave.
There was a spot he hadn't looked at yet.
A place even he had avoided.
He walked there and knelt down, brushing away dust and stones. His fingers touched something solid — not rock.
Wood.
Metal.
Zero froze.
Zero: "…So you're still here."
He pulled it out slowly.
A wrapped bundle.
Old cloth. Rusted edges.
Inside it lay a gun.
Not new. Not shiny.
But real.
Zero stared at it for a long moment.
Memories rushed back — his childhood, the mountains, secret games, things he wasn't supposed to know. Someone had hidden it here long ago… and he had never told anyone.
Not even himself.
He swallowed.
Zero: "I didn't think I'd ever need you."
Behind him, Aira stirred.
She sat up and saw what he was holding.
Her eyes widened.
"…Is that real?"
Zero nodded once.
Zero: "Yeah."
She didn't move closer.
"Why would a kid hide something like that?"
Zero wrapped the gun back carefully.
Zero: "Because this place wasn't just a playground."
He stood up, placing it back inside his bag.
Zero: "This mountain taught me one thing early."
He looked toward the cave entrance, where faint daylight filtered through.
Zero: "Some dangers don't wait for you to grow up."
Aira hugged her knees.
"You're different from other people," she said quietly.
Zero didn't answer.
He checked the entrance again, scanning the valley below.
The city was still.
Too still.
Birds didn't fly. Wind didn't move right.
Something felt wrong.
Zero: "We won't stay here long."
Aira looked at him.
"Why?"
Zero's grip tightened around the khukuri.
Zero: "Because when the world goes quiet like this…"
A pause.
Zero: "It's usually holding its breath."
Far away, deep in the forest below, a sound echoed.
Not a groan.
Not a scream.
Something… heavier.
Aira stood up.
"…That wasn't normal, was it?"
Zero shook his head slowly.
Zero: "No."
He slung his bag over his shoulder.
Zero: "And whatever it is…"
He glanced once more at the cave — his childhood sanctuary.
Zero: "It's not human anymore."
The mountains remained silent.
But silence, Zero knew now, was never empty.
End of Chapter 7