Kar raced to catch up with Kiya. She set a brisk pace along the main outpost road. If it weren't for the splint on her arm it would have seemed as if nothing had happened to her the day before.
"Keep up!" She shouted at him, and not for the first time. She hadn't given him the chance to say a proper goodbye to Isa. He'd only had time to hug his sister tightly and had whispered in her ear a promise; that he would find a way to get them out of this no matter what. He didn't know if she believed it. He doubted his own ability to carry through on it.
Kiya and Kar turned down a side path and approached an open gate in the main wall. The guards there recognized her on sight and waved them by. Once through they were in the barracks quarter; a hub built off the northeastern face of the Outpost with its own smaller walls enclosing it on three sides.
"New recruits are this way." She told him with a curt gesture, and then led him onwards to a set of buildings close to the barrack's outermost wall.
"Emitry!" She yelled to a man she saw lounging on a chair in the shade.
He jumped to attention at the sound of her voice.
"I've got a new recruit, did the scavenger crews already head out for the day?"
"Yes ma'am," he croaked, "you just missed them."
Kiya eyed Emitry up and down, "Don't suppose you'd be up for taking this one out and placing him with a crew?"
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, "Uhh, by myself?"
She scoffed, "Yeah that's what I thought. I'll do it. You at least know where they were headed today?"
The man laughed nervously, "Supposed to be out near the Academy district north of here, tremors last week opened up some new areas we haven't hit before."
"I know where it is, get him a pack and gear will you?"
Kar looked around at the barrack grounds while Emitry dashed off, "What is this place?" He asked.
She stared at him for a bit then said, "This is where little boys like you wait to die."
He met her stare. Ironically she was the one looking up at him, short as she was. There was a cruel glint in her eyes and he realized then that she must enjoy bringing misery on others.
Did she blame Kar for what Aldwin had done to her? What he'd only done in response to the unprovoked attack she had coordinated? His face flushed and he clenched his jaw in anger.
Just then Emitry came bumbling back holding a large, mostly empty pack and some kind of long handled hammer, "Here's your sledge," He said, shoving the heavy tool into Kar's hands, "and here's your pack."
Kiya was already striding towards the barrack's outer gate , "Let's go." She called back.
Kar struggled to pull the pack's straps over his shoulders while juggling the heavier than it looked sledge hammer, then jogged after Kiya's quickly shrinking figure.
"Good luck!" Emitry called out after him, "You'll need it!"
At the gate, the guards gave Kar pitying stares as he ran through after Kiya into the ruins. He faltered upon leaving the shelter of the barracks and its protective walls. Those two towers he'd seen from the carriage the day before loomed just ahead, much larger than he realized. Rows of smaller—yet still impressive—buildings stretched far into the distance, and that ever present jagged mountain peak loomed above all. He noticed for the first time the silhouette of another shape adjacent to the mountain; a trapezoidal tower that rose to a sharp peak. Next to the mountain it looked diminutive, but admiring it from this vantage, Kar realized it must be one of the largest structures still remaining here in the city.
He felt very small all of a sudden, standing there amidst this wrecked metropolis. At the same time, he also felt hemmed in by the thousands of empty doorways and shadowy window frames that gaped to either side of them.
"I swear I will leave you out here if you can't keep up!" Kiya yelled back. Her shout startled a pair of antelope from where they rooted among the tufts of grass growing thick along the roadway. Creeping vines draped the ruined buildings while shrubs, and even small trees, adorned the sidewalks.
Kar had no doubt she wouldn't think twice about leaving him. He pulled the pack tighter on his back and ran after her, trying his best not to trip on chunks of rubble and cracks in the roadway. "So, how do I scavenge?" Kar asked while climbing over the overgrown husk of some kind of odd wagon or cart. There were hundreds of them lining this main boulevard and the side streets they passed.
She pointedly ignored him, coming to a small fissure in the road and casually hopping over it, twin jets of flame flaring beneath her feet.
Kar slid down one side then scrabbled up the other, scraping his hand in the process.
He stopped trying to talk to her and just focused on keeping up. Despite his best efforts he soon trailed significantly. He sucked in a breath, gasping for air as he stopped to bend over, hands on his knees.
It was only then he realized just how many sounds echoed throughout the ruins. The low whistle of the wind. The barking cries of distant wild dogs. Birds chirping from their nests inside hollowed out apartments and former businesses long abandoned. He raised his head, and wiped the sweat from his brow. Then realized he couldn't see Kiya anymore.
Suddenly the animal sounds around him died low, leaving only the howling of the wind. Kar stood up slowly, feeling uneasy. A distant thudding shook the ground.
From around an intersecting side street, a large crystal head emerged. Kar recognized it immediately as the same kind of creature as the one that had chased him across the plains the day before. The crystbeast shook its head side to side; as if agitated. Suddenly it stopped, then slowly turned to look in Kar's direction.
Kar backed up slowly as the creature fully rounded the corner. He saw now that it wasn't like the one from the day before; it was the one from the day before. The left side of its face looked like melted and cracked slag where Kiya had struck it with her flames.
The beast stamped forward, bugling out a deep, rumbling noise. Kar turned and ran, the pack on his back bouncing and the sledge in his grip scraping and jittering along the pavement.
A howling roar thundered behind him and the crystbeast's massive feet shook the ground.
Where was Kiya? There was no time to think, and Kar didn't want to trust that she would save him from the monster again. He split down a side avenue and frantically looked for somewhere he could take shelter. A doorway gaped open on his right and Kar dashed inside. Around him the building shook as the beast shouldered itself against the exterior wall. Chunks of stone and plaster rained down around Kar and he tripped in the gloom, his ears ringing.
This had been a bad idea.
He scrambled towards the back of the room while the crystbeast continued to paw and swipe furiously at the stone facade. With a deafening crack the front face of the building collapsed.
Kar screamed and huddled back against the wall, dropping his sledge and covering his head with both arms.
The crumbling finally stopped.
Kar took a breath, inhaling dust which sent him into a coughing fit.
After his coughing had subsided and the dust settled, he finally opened his eyes, afraid of what he would find. It was so dark, he had to blink several times to see if his eyes were actually open or not. The building creaked ominously around him, and he heard muffled scratching from where the crystbeast had been moments before. Kar raised his arms and was surprised to find the space above him clear. The back wall and part of the ceiling held for now, preventing him from being crushed.
With a trembling hand Kar reached into his pocket and pulled out the shard there. It glowed a pale blue, dimly illuminating his surroundings.
The entire street-side portion of the room was buried, leaving a narrow clear area along the back wall here. Kar turned in place, looking for another way out. There was a doorway a short ways away that led deeper inside the building. The ceiling above him groaned and Kar hurriedly moved towards that door. He remembered his sledge at the last moment and stooped to grab it before scrambling over chunks of stone and masonry to escape.
A long hallway stretched into the darkness. He crept down it slowly. Just in time too; a loud crash cascaded from the room behind him as it collapsed entirely. Kar swallowed—his throat dry—then stumbled deeper down the hall to put some distance between himself and the wreckage he'd left behind.
The corridor led to a set of stairs that descended into the dark. The air was cool and stagnate down there. Kar leaned his sledge against the wall, then took off his pack and rifled through it. He found a canteen of water, some rope, a hard lump of what he assumed was bread, along with a small sack of nuts. He sat down and drank, then ate a little. He couldn't stop shaking.
Ok. This wasn't ideal. But he just needed to find a way back outside, and then… the city was so massive. Would he be able to backtrack to the outpost? If he couldn't, would Kiya be able to find him? Would she even look?
Soft steps padded along the floor beside him. Kar looked up, alarmed. He held up his shard and grabbed the haft of his sledge. The dim blue light glinted off the approaching form of some kind of creature.
A type of crystbeast, Kar realized with a sinking feeling.
Not like the one that had attacked him out there in the street, this was much smaller, but not what he would describe as small by any means. It came up to around his thighs, and looked if anything like some kind of large, predatory cat. It wasn't alone. Two more cryst-cats loped up behind it, blocking off the hallway Kar had just traversed. Was this set of buildings their den?
Kar slowly pulled his pack back on, and sidled toward the stairs; his only escape. The lead cat crouched low, and a rumbling growl emanated from its chest.