How much time had passed like this?
How long had he been on the beach?When did the storm stop?
Félix had none of these answers when he opened his eyes, all he knew was that the sky was clear, free of any clouds.
Sitting in front of him, with a slightly dimmer glow, was Agnis. She hugged her knees and contemplated the sea breeze, the water touched her fingers delicately. Her hair flew against the wind painting the blue of the sky yellow.
Félix was lying on the sand, his fingers moved cautiously. His hand slowly sank into the beach, he felt every grain of sand to make sure he was alive, still not knowing whether that was a miracle or a curse.
— Am I still alive? — He asked while looking at the sky.
— Is your heart beating?
Félix touched his own chest. — Yes.
— Then you already have your answer.
The answer was vague, Agnis did not even look at him. Félix had taken a point blank shot right to the head, it is a miracle he is still alive, however, he could not feel happiness.
His expression was indifferent, his heart pumped blood but did not pump the feelings of something alive. Living a life where the only remaining feeling is fear, and the only sensation is pain.
This is not life.
—Félix, tell me... — Agnis looked at her own feet. — Do you still want to die?
Silence was his answer, he turned his head and pretended not to hear the question.
— Whenever you were conscious you did not resist the storm.
— You could have let me go.
Agnis finally looked at him. — If I did that would you try to resist the cold?
Silence returned to dominate the beach.
— Your body can endure a lot, you know th—
— I do not want to. — His answer was quick, interrupting Agnis. — Why do you not just let me touch the bottom of this sea?
— This conversation again?
Agnis stood up and walked to where Félix was, she knelt right beside him.
— It does not matter how many times they try to kill you, or how many times you try to commit suicide. — She grabbed his hand. — Even if you do it hundreds or thousands of times, I will never let you touch the bottom of the sea.
The sun shone in the sky, with the same intensity and size as when the earth was in its proper place. The breeze and the weather were comfortable, like a summer day from times that will never return.
— Your mind fights to die, while your body desperately fights to live, do you not think it is selfish to want to die just from your own side?
— And does that matter? It is not like someone would cry for me if I died today.
Agnis squeezed his hand and stared at him deeply.
— I would cry, I would cry like a child.
Félix tried to return Agnis's gaze, but her glow made it difficult to keep his eyes open.
— Would you be able to say that to me, in that cold world?
Agnis opened her mouth to speak, but the inability to truly answer that question made her fall silent.
— As I thought... — Félix concluded.
Slowly he stood up and began to walk toward the sea. Once again, he would try to touch the bottom.
But Agnis's gentle hand grabbed his wrist.
The two stood still while the waves touched their legs, their feet were completely covered by the seawater.
— How long have you existed?
Agnis took time to answer. — Longer than those whose footsteps have long disappeared. — She narrowed her eyes. — I remember all of them.
— Were there others who came back?
— Only those who... Would prefer not to return.
Agnis squeezed Félix's hand even tighter.
— Please... Keep trying, I know you will find her, you are so close. — Her eyes returned to the ground. — But at the same time it seems so far.
— Who am I supposed to find? You always tell me that, and it always leads me to more deaths.
— That is because you always search in the wrong places, I know many things, but I do not know everything.
Félix sat down letting the water cover his chest.
— And where do I have to go? In which place do I have to die this time?
Agnis wrapped her arms around Félix's neck.
— You never need to die, just think better before acting impulsively.
Agnis looked like a big bear hugging a small cub, her flames shone in the water as if they were a giant jellyfish.
— Run to the south of the farm, run as fast as your feet can. Save the girl.
— I'm no hero.
— I'm not asking you to be one.
Agnis's eyes closed, as if she wished deep inside herself that he would accept.
Félix remembered a strong willed girl in the barn of the farm.
— I think I know who she is, but I cannot guarantee anything.Agnis smiled. — I never ask you for guarantees.
Félix freed himself from her embrace and walked toward the horizon of the beach, his body slowly disappeared as he moved away from everything. This time he did not choose to enter the water to return.
Agnis watched his silhouette slowly fade.
— This is my gift to you, Félix. — She said to herself.
[The eyes of Félix opened]
The first thing he saw when he woke up was a strange kind of white fabric, it was cold but not as much as he expected it to be.
He struck the fabric and his hand went through. Like a zombie he rose in the middle of the snow, like an unhappy memory. His body trembled from the cold, hunger and thirst took over his body.
But something curious dominated his thoughts.
— Why has the world not turned into flesh yet?
Given his condition, he already expected to wake up in an INSANE state. But not even a putrid smell was in the air, that would be impossible unless someone fed him Axionil pills while he was in a coma.
Quickly another concern knocked at his door. He was in an unknown place, it was clearly a grave even though he did not know the reason for that strange fabric wrapping his body. But still it was not possible to identify the place nor whether he was close to the farm.
— Alright, how am I going to find the South of the farm? — He said to himself in his mind. — Or rather, how am I going to find the South specifically!?
Walking through the forest he asked himself that question, his footprints left a trail wherever he walked. His mind was full of questions, and the more he thought the more of them appeared.
When someone dies, if their clothes were not too damaged they are removed from the corpse. No one discards fabric in such a cold world.
POFTH!!!
A shrill sound was approaching rapidly, the cracks sounded like pieces of trees being broken. It was as if a starving beast ran toward him.
Félix did not think twice about leaving that place as fast as possible. But it was fast, it was faster than any animal he had ever seen in his life. He felt as if it was watching him, but his eyes detected nothing.
A chill ran down his spine. Instinctively his body lowered, an icy wind seemed to cut across his back like a scythe, but when it touched him he felt nothing, no cut was there.
When he looked ahead, a figure stood leaning against the trunk of a tree. It wore a typical white infirmary uniform, but blood stained all the clean fabric red.
Both of its arms were broken, being dragged by the body. Its face was almost completely disfigured, only one of its eyes seemed to see. The only "normal" part of its body were its legs, but they wore no clothing.
How could someone with that thin fabric remain in the snow without getting hypothermia? That was nowhere near a human being, it was a thing, an abominable and repulsive being.
— What the hell is that? — Félix took a few steps back.
That thing took a few steps toward him. Félix promptly entered a combat stance.
— RuN. — The creature tried to speak.
Its voice was almost incomprehensible, it was distorted, wet and sometimes sounded hoarse.
— YoU rUn. — It desperately tried to point with its head. — SouTh, RuN fAsT.
Only God could know the immense agony that thing was feeling. Its face was monstrous, but it still tried to be human in such a desperate way.
— What are you?...
Smoke emanated from the creature's face, its wounds were healing in plain sight of Félix. His eyes widened, he refused to believe it.
— You... Are like me—
— RuN!!! — The thing bent forward as if its spine could not support its own weight. — If not ShE will kiLL eVerYoNe.
— She who?
— South ruN, SoUth.
— For fuck's sake what do you all want me to do in the South!? At least point to where it is.
The thing signaled the South with its head, its desperation was so great it almost stumbled and fell.
— TaKe thEm off, save, save.
Urgh — My task does not include the plural.
That thing began to bite its own arm, the sound of bones breaking echoed through the forest, the snow was painted in a viscous and disgusting red.
Félix did not know what to do, he feared being attacked if he tried to stop it. His body only slowly retreated, widening the space between them even more.
The thing bit until its arm detached from its body and fell into the snow, then kicked it close to Félix.
— EneRGy, eat, EnErgy.
Félix forced a smile onto his face. — Of all the people I have ever seen in my life... If I can even call you a "person", you are by far the craziest of them...
Agnis and that thing wanted him to go South. As questionable as the situation was he knew he could not refuse, even without knowing that being, even with his head full of questions. He had a task to accomplish, and apparently time was much tighter than usual.
— You always treat me as if I were a puppet. — He grabbed the severed arm. — I swear this will be the last time. If you find Agnis out there send her that message.
Félix dashed powerfully toward the South where that thing pointed, leaving it alone in the forest.
— WhO is Agnis? — It asked itself.
While Félix followed his destiny, the farm continued working without stopping.
A nurse noticed Kobayashi was missing from his infirmary bed, and ran to report to her superiors. Kenil was the first soldier she found, he immediately went up to the command center to report to the commanders.
However, there was no one in the room. A meeting was taking place in the office assigned to Natália.
— I want you to surround the camp starting from the North, West, East and south ends in that exact order. — Natália tapped marked zones on a map on top of the table. — I do not want a single individual to escape.
— But we do not know how many soldiers they have. — Said a commander.
— Five, but they have weaponry for up to ten people.
Another commander raised his hands in indignation. — Only that? Do they think the New Brigade is a joke!?
— Do they have any "Gray" operating in the field? — Asked a lieutenant.
— We have not detected any anomalous behavior coming from their members. — Natália replied.
— If they do not have any "Grays" operating then we do not need snipers.
— No. — Natália took the lead. — I want at least two snipers on the flanks to prevent them from fleeing through the forest. If anyone steps outside the camp I want you to shoot to kill.
Knock Knock!
Everyone stopped talking.
— Lieutenant Kenil Muffin reporting! — He spoke while the door was still closed. — I come to inform you that Lieutenant Kobayashi is not in the infirmary!!
— What? — Natália was surprised.
In a mix of fury she opened the door and grabbed Kenil by the collar of his uniform.
— When did he leave!?
— I do not know. — Kenil sweated cold before the monster in front of him. — It was a nurse who reported it to me, I only came to inform you as you asked...
Natália threw Kenil to the ground and headed to the infirmary with heavy steps. Instinctively the soldiers opened a path for her to pass.
— Madam Natália? What are you doing in the infirma—
Natália pushed the nurse and went toward Kobayashi's bed. As soon as she saw the empty bed even the dark circles under her eyes seemed to take on a reddish tone.
She checked her wristwatch, it was 7:48.
— If he does not appear here by 08:00 I want you to kill him!! — She ran her hand across her own neck. — I want you to rip out his entrails and feed them to the pigs!!!
The infirmary door slowly opened.
It was Kobayashi.
His uniform was white and clean, with no sign of blood or snow on his clothes.
Natália stared at him like a wild animal. — Where were you!?
— Bathroom. — He replied quickly.
Kenil, who was beside Natália, turned pale with fear, a false alarm for the "Born of the Snow" was almost a death sentence, even if it was the nurse who called him first.
— But he was not at the farm, I am sure of it... There is no way I could be mistaken... — Commented the nurse.
— Ma'am I swear it was her who asked me to—
Natália pulled Kenil's arm and drove her knee straight into the joint. Instantly the harsh sound of his bones breaking echoed through the infirmary, frightening all the other patients.
Kenil collapsed in pain on the floor, but at least he was already in the infirmary anyway.
Natália walked until she was face to face with Kobayashi. As soon as she got close she immediately noticed, she touched where his right arm should have been and felt nothing.
— Where did your arm go? — Her expression was fury, one wrong answer and it would be his end.
— The infirmary food is too little, I had to eat something so I would not enter the "Gray" state.
Natália's mouth opened slightly at the audacity of the answer. Her furious expression was masked with a fake smile.
— Haha, that is right, the food here is very little, hahaha.
Her laughter was disturbing, you could feel from afar the heavy atmosphere she carried. But just as the other soldiers already expected.
PAFTH!!!
A precise slap exploded across Kobayashi's face, knocking out some of his teeth with the force.
Natália grabbed his uniform collar. — One more "joke" and I will personally rip off your head or throw you into the incinerator.
With the false alarm "resolved" she returned to her meeting, making it clear that if anyone interrupted again they would be severely punished.
Finally Kobayashi collapsed onto his infirmary bed, his body completely exhausted from using the "Gray" state and returning so quickly. But fortunately, his body endured until he made it back to the farm.
But it would be better not to do that again, Natália becomes someone else when she is angry.