Escape
Riana Brians, during the crisis
"Uhh, go right, now!"
The shouts from the boy, Lionel, rang through the air as the four of them ran through the woods. Keith led at the front of their group, whilst she followed in the middle, and Ezra, the non-combatant, trailed behind whilst carrying Lionel on his back. Right, Lionel. They couldn’t just leave him knowing he was probably going to die. The Cordiale were the good guys. They were the good guys. Besides, they needed him to navigate the woods here. She cursed. The cave was one thing, but if only they still had their communication devices here, they could have called for reinforcements or help. Instead, they had found out a little too late for comfort that all their devices had also disappeared alongside her nuke, when they emerged from the Crack. It was strange, but there wasn't any time to delve deeper into it. The rumbling was getting worse, and the pulsating sensation in the back of her head was only getting stronger. Shit. Those blood-red Cracks. How many Origins would it take to repulse abominations coming out of something like that? Definitely not just the three of them, that was certain. Maybe one of those elite Ministry Divisions could stop it? No, she doubted it.
"Go straight, until there's a small ditch! Then turn slightly left, and we should almost be out of here!"
The boy, Lionel, was pointing towards a path in front of them as they advanced. All things considered, he was adjusting quite well to the rapidly-changing situation. Surprising, for a kid who looked like he was still in his early teens. In front of her, she saw Keith move to turn according to the boy's instructions. Riana had seen him slow down several times through the course of their advance to match the rest of their speeds. At least he had the right mind to keep pace so as to not stray off too far ahead. Briefly turning her head, she saw Ezra struggling to keep up, not to mention he was carrying the boy in his arms.
Their advance was made worse by the rough forest terrain. She had lost count of how many times she had nearly tripped over some tree roots, or bumped into a tree trunk whilst running. Who could blame her? Most missions largely occurred in the city and urban zones. Skillfully running through a forest was not on the job description of being an operative. The branches obscuring the path, the roots growing on the ground, the bushes, hedges, and the uneven terrain, it was all so, so terrible. At least she could take solace in knowing she wasn’t the only one struggling. She had seen Keith fumble his steps several times, not to mention Lionel’s occasional shrieks coming behind her back whenever Ezra seemed close to tripping over something.
As she almost ran head-first into a trunk (again), which had been obscured by some thick branches, she couldn’t help but curse aloud, “Fuck!” Yeah, the boy was here, but who the fuck would care in this situation?
But it was then, from the corner of her eyes, she spotted several structures emerge from the landscape of trees and bushes, were they buildings? Hell yeah, A town! Now all they had to do was find some sort of vehicle and get the fuck out of he–
Her thoughts were violently interrupted by several violent tremors. Adjusting her eyes, she caught herself staring right at a blood-red Crack forming near the ground, not too far off from the buildings she saw. A Crack? But what about the ones up there? Briefly looking upwards, she saw the massive blood-red Cracks still hanging overhead in the sky, where they had been. But as she briefly strained her eyes, she managed to catch sight of several, smaller Cracks, forming mid-air below the larger ones. All of these smaller Cracks looked similar-sized to the one they had seen in the cave. But whereas that one had been of indescribable colour, these were blood-red, much like the colour of the even larger Cracks in the sky.
Shit, this wasn’t good. Assuming all these Cracks were the same as the one they had encountered in the cave, it was plausible to assume every single one of these could spawn as many monsters. Though they had all been caught off-guard when it had first happened, just a single one had still been enough to decimate dozens of operatives and elites. Now? She couldn’t even begin to count how many there were forming all around them.
“8. 8 of them, all around us. 5 in the sky. One near the town, 2 more further behind in the forest.” Behind her, she could hear the voice of Ezra counting. She couldn’t stop herself from asking, “How did you count them all–” But before she could finish her question, the man interrupted her, “Don’t ask. Questions later, first we survive this.” She clenched her teeth. Damn, she better be getting a good explanation once they get out of this. If they got out of this.
“Mom!! Dad!!” She heard Lionel’s screams echo across the forest. Right, this was probably his hometown. If so, his parents were probably here as well. Lionel was one thing, but could they honestly afford to protect any civilians? A part of her wanted to, but the rational side of her, the one that had seen her through seven years at this life-or-death job, clearly told her otherwise.
As the four of them reached the outskirts of the town, she could make out the figures of the residents standing out on the streets, looking either frantic or bewildered. Some were on their knees, some were dazed, whilst only a handful of those she saw were rushing to get away. Most seemed more perplexed than anything. She even saw a few kids and teens excitedly snapping photos of the Cracks through tiny cameras in their hands. Those idiots!
As the four of them stopped on one of the streets, Riana saw some of the residents stop to give them bewildered looks. Go figure, between their combat attire, Ezra’s labcoat and the red, green blood of those abominations still staining their figures, they were probably a strange sight to see. Especially coming out of the forest the same time the Cracks began showing up. Shit. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to run, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Looking back at Keith, the man seemed to be in brief thought, before he turned towards Ezra. More specifically, Lionel, the boy he was carrying on his back.
He spoke in a rushed tone: “Kid, where’re your parents? Do they have a ride? We can all get out of here before those monsters start popping out.” The boy in turn, seemed apprehensive for a moment, before replying, “Y– yeah, Dad has an old jeep he still keeps around in his garage. I think we can all take that—”
Before the boy could finish his words, a cacophony of panicked screams rang through the air. Oh no. Swinging her head so fast she would have sworn her neck would crack, she turned to the direction of the screams. Down the street, another blood-red Crack had formed, and from it, she caught sight of a large figure emerging.
She braced for battle, but Keith snapped her out of it. “No! We run! Hurry, kid, where’s your house? Hurry! There’s no time!!” With a trembling finger, either from the emergence of those abominations or from Keith’s raised voice, Lionel wordlessly pointed them in a direction down on the opposite end of the street. There was no time to lose, and they quickly dashed across the street, which was beginning to be engulfed by chaos and screams. Everywhere she looked, she saw people around her beginning to scream and run in the same direction as they all tried to flee from the emerging monsters. She tried to ignore her surroundings like the wind, well, tried to. Not that easy when everything around you was in a state of pandemonium.
Focus, don’t let your comrades die again.
Pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind, she tried to pick up the pace, only to find herself increasingly blocked by the cars and scrambling people. Incessant honks and screams continued to buzz in her ears, whilst the mass of people blocked her vision. Damn it, why couldn’t she be taller? From a glance, the town didn’t seem to be that big, yet why were there so many people in her way? There weren't enough people to get herself trampled, but still enough to seriously hinder her path. Shit, where was Keith? Ezra? Lionel? Crap. She couldn’t make any of them out in this wave of bodies. As she stopped and stood there trying to find them, without warning, a splash of water appeared below her feet, and before she could react, she found herself scooped up into the air by a solid disk of water. Wait, this was–
“There you are!” Keith’s shout drew her attention. Turning sideways, she saw Keith and Ezra standing on similar disks of solid water hovering mid-air, with Lionel still in Ezra’s arms. Right, Keith could control water, couldn’t he? Guess he could even use it like this, it was quite versatile. Below her, she saw streams of people running down the streets. Most civilians briefly stared up at them blank-faced, before quickly returning back to their frantic escape. She could hear some frantic shouts demanding her and her group to take them and give them a lift too. Keith, expectedly, ignored their pleas. Turning her head, she saw three large, monstrous figures with pale green skin rampaging down the street, not too far off from where they had initially been. They reminded her of monsters she had once read about in fantasy books, with hideous features, barely covered bodies, and abnormally large statures. They each wielded some sort of a battle-axe, mace and club, and every time they swung, people would be cut down in droves. What kind of an abomination was that?! Even the spiders she saw back in the cave weren’t that bad!
Before she could keep her eyes glued to the scene of carnage any longer, she all of a sudden found herself– no, the disk of water she was standing on, beginning to move mid-air. Turning back, she saw Keith visibly straining as he made a pulling motion with his hands, clearly controlling the three disks they were on to move towards Lionel’s direction. As they picked up speed, she felt the wind blowing into her face and into her hair. Alright, they were going at a good speed. Inclining her head, she turned to check on Ezra and Lionel, who were now awkwardly standing together on the same disk after the boy had gotten off Ezra’s arms. The man, Ezra, seemed to be doing just fine, though he had scrapes and tears all across his lab coat, alongside a few branches and leaves caught up from back in the forest. He looked dishevelled and fatigued, expectantly, but nothing worse for the wear. As for Lionel, well…… the poor boy seemed unable to decide between astonishment and terror, and kept on seemingly alternating between both. He kept turning to Keith with a look of half-confusion and bewilderment, then at the moving water disk he was standing on, then changed his expression to fear and shock when he saw the rampaging abominations behind them, before turning back to Keith and repeating the pattern all over again. That was…… normal, pretty normal, actually, considering this was probably his first time witnessing these abominations, and being in this situation. That, and the fact that he was an untrained kid. She found herself having to keep reminding herself of the fact that Lionel was just a kid. Was it because this was an emergency and she found her thoughts keep getting scrambled? Maybe she just wasn’t used to dealing with kids.
Wait, didn’t he initially say that she and the other two men had come out of a Crack? Had he been near one? Did he encounter any of these abominations beforehand? No, he wouldn’t have survived if that had been the case. As she was having such thoughts, the boy broke out of his pattern of awe and fear, before pointing to a nearby cottage near the outskirts of the town. “There it is! It’s safe!” She could almost hear the relief in his voice knowing his parents were still untouched by the abominations. Sitting beside the cottage, she also made out a large jeep, most likely the one Lionel was talking about. Alright, that was their ride out of here.
A part of her still insisted on fighting back, trying to save those people, but she suppressed them, alongside her guilt and conscience. They just didn’t have the manpower, the resources, or the coordination to tackle those monsters right now. This whole time, ever since the first breach back in the cave, there had only ever been panicked improvisation and running. A lot of running. She still didn’t know anything about Ezra, or what the man’s Ability was, assuming he was an Origin like them. Not to mention she still wasn’t familiar with Keith, or what he could do with his Ability. If so, she wouldn’t have been caught off-guard by his sudden usage earlier on with these water disks. They had no time, no preparation, no teamwork or coordination. They would just get slaughtered, she told herself.
Still, no matter how many times she repeated this fact to herself, the guilt didn’t go away, knowing she had powers and could have at least tried something to stop them. God, if this was how she was feeling, she didn’t want to think what an ordinary kid like Lionel was going through right now. What if he saw his friends caught up in this mess? What if he knew those people down there getting killed? This was his town after all. It was a bit surprising he hadn’t spoken up once. Maybe he was just too shocked?
She put aside such thoughts for now. The cottage was getting closer, and it was time to disembark. Now then, here’s to hoping the kid’s parents weren’t assholes or idiots.
Escape
Riana Brians, during the crisis
"Uhh, go right, now!"
The shouts from the boy, Lionel, rang through the air as the four of them ran through the woods. Keith led at the front of their group, whilst she followed in the middle, and Ezra, the non-combatant, trailed behind whilst carrying Lionel on his back. Right, Lionel. They couldn’t just leave him knowing he was probably going to die. The Cordiale were the good guys. They were the good guys. Besides, they needed him to navigate the woods here. She cursed. The cave was one thing, but if only they still had their communication devices here, they could have called for reinforcements or help. Instead, they had found out a little too late for comfort that all their devices had also disappeared alongside her nuke, when they emerged from the Crack. It was strange, but there wasn't any time to delve deeper into it. The rumbling was getting worse, and the pulsating sensation in the back of her head was only getting stronger. Shit. Those blood-red Cracks. How many Origins would it take to repulse abominations coming out of something like that? Definitely not just the three of them, that was certain. Maybe one of those elite Ministry Divisions could stop it? No, she doubted it.
"Go straight, until there's a small ditch! Then turn slightly left, and we should almost be out of here!"
The boy, Lionel, was pointing towards a path in front of them as they advanced. All things considered, he was adjusting quite well to the rapidly-changing situation. Surprising, for a kid who looked like he was still in his early teens. In front of her, she saw Keith move to turn according to the boy's instructions. Riana had seen him slow down several times through the course of their advance to match the rest of their speeds. At least he had the right mind to keep pace so as to not stray off too far ahead. Briefly turning her head, she saw Ezra struggling to keep up, not to mention he was carrying the boy in his arms.
Their advance was made worse by the rough forest terrain. She had lost count of how many times she had nearly tripped over some tree roots, or bumped into a tree trunk whilst running. Who could blame her? Most missions largely occurred in the city and urban zones. Skillfully running through a forest was not on the job description of being an operative. The branches obscuring the path, the roots growing on the ground, the bushes, hedges, and the uneven terrain, it was all so, so terrible. At least she could take solace in knowing she wasn’t the only one struggling. She had seen Keith fumble his steps several times, not to mention Lionel’s occasional shrieks coming behind her back whenever Ezra seemed close to tripping over something.
As she almost ran head-first into a trunk (again), which had been obscured by some thick branches, she couldn’t help but curse aloud, “Fuck!” Yeah, the boy was here, but who the fuck would care in this situation?
But it was then, from the corner of her eyes, she spotted several structures emerge from the landscape of trees and bushes, were they buildings? Hell yeah, A town! Now all they had to do was find some sort of vehicle and get the fuck out of he–
Her thoughts were violently interrupted by several violent tremors. Adjusting her eyes, she caught herself staring right at a blood-red Crack forming near the ground, not too far off from the buildings she saw. A Crack? But what about the ones up there? Briefly looking upwards, she saw the massive blood-red Cracks still hanging overhead in the sky, where they had been. But as she briefly strained her eyes, she managed to catch sight of several, smaller Cracks, forming mid-air below the larger ones. All of these smaller Cracks looked similar-sized to the one they had seen in the cave. But whereas that one had been of indescribable colour, these were blood-red, much like the colour of the even larger Cracks in the sky.
Shit, this wasn’t good. Assuming all these Cracks were the same as the one they had encountered in the cave, it was plausible to assume every single one of these could spawn as many monsters. Though they had all been caught off-guard when it had first happened, just a single one had still been enough to decimate dozens of operatives and elites. Now? She couldn’t even begin to count how many there were forming all around them.
“8. 8 of them, all around us. 5 in the sky. One near the town, 2 more further behind in the forest.” Behind her, she could hear the voice of Ezra counting. She couldn’t stop herself from asking, “How did you count them all–” But before she could finish her question, the man interrupted her, “Don’t ask. Questions later, first we survive this.” She clenched her teeth. Damn, she better be getting a good explanation once they get out of this. If they got out of this.
“Mom!! Dad!!” She heard Lionel’s screams echo across the forest. Right, this was probably his hometown. If so, his parents were probably here as well. Lionel was one thing, but could they honestly afford to protect any civilians? A part of her wanted to, but the rational side of her, the one that had seen her through seven years at this life-or-death job, clearly told her otherwise.
As the four of them reached the outskirts of the town, she could make out the figures of the residents standing out on the streets, looking either frantic or bewildered. Some were on their knees, some were dazed, whilst only a handful of those she saw were rushing to get away. Most seemed more perplexed than anything. She even saw a few kids and teens excitedly snapping photos of the Cracks through tiny cameras in their hands. Those idiots!
As the four of them stopped on one of the streets, Riana saw some of the residents stop to give them bewildered looks. Go figure, between their combat attire, Ezra’s labcoat and the red, green blood of those abominations still staining their figures, they were probably a strange sight to see. Especially coming out of the forest the same time the Cracks began showing up. Shit. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to run, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Looking back at Keith, the man seemed to be in brief thought, before he turned towards Ezra. More specifically, Lionel, the boy he was carrying on his back.
He spoke in a rushed tone: “Kid, where’re your parents? Do they have a ride? We can all get out of here before those monsters start popping out.” The boy in turn, seemed apprehensive for a moment, before replying, “Y– yeah, Dad has an old jeep he still keeps around in his garage. I think we can all take that—”
Before the boy could finish his words, a cacophony of panicked screams rang through the air. Oh no. Swinging her head so fast she would have sworn her neck would crack, she turned to the direction of the screams. Down the street, another blood-red Crack had formed, and from it, she caught sight of a large figure emerging.
She braced for battle, but Keith snapped her out of it. “No! We run! Hurry, kid, where’s your house? Hurry! There’s no time!!” With a trembling finger, either from the emergence of those abominations or from Keith’s raised voice, Lionel wordlessly pointed them in a direction down on the opposite end of the street. There was no time to lose, and they quickly dashed across the street, which was beginning to be engulfed by chaos and screams. Everywhere she looked, she saw people around her beginning to scream and run in the same direction as they all tried to flee from the emerging monsters. She tried to ignore her surroundings like the wind, well, tried to. Not that easy when everything around you was in a state of pandemonium.
Focus, don’t let your comrades die again.
Pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind, she tried to pick up the pace, only to find herself increasingly blocked by the cars and scrambling people. Incessant honks and screams continued to buzz in her ears, whilst the mass of people blocked her vision. Damn it, why couldn’t she be taller? From a glance, the town didn’t seem to be that big, yet why were there so many people in her way? There weren't enough people to get herself trampled, but still enough to seriously hinder her path. Shit, where was Keith? Ezra? Lionel? Crap. She couldn’t make any of them out in this wave of bodies. As she stopped and stood there trying to find them, without warning, a splash of water appeared below her feet, and before she could react, she found herself scooped up into the air by a solid disk of water. Wait, this was–
“There you are!” Keith’s shout drew her attention. Turning sideways, she saw Keith and Ezra standing on similar disks of solid water hovering mid-air, with Lionel still in Ezra’s arms. Right, Keith could control water, couldn’t he? Guess he could even use it like this, it was quite versatile. Below her, she saw streams of people running down the streets. Most civilians briefly stared up at them blank-faced, before quickly returning back to their frantic escape. She could hear some frantic shouts demanding her and her group to take them and give them a lift too. Keith, expectedly, ignored their pleas. Turning her head, she saw three large, monstrous figures with pale green skin rampaging down the street, not too far off from where they had initially been. They reminded her of monsters she had once read about in fantasy books, with hideous features, barely covered bodies, and abnormally large statures. They each wielded some sort of a battle-axe, mace and club, and every time they swung, people would be cut down in droves. What kind of an abomination was that?! Even the spiders she saw back in the cave weren’t that bad!
Before she could keep her eyes glued to the scene of carnage any longer, she all of a sudden found herself– no, the disk of water she was standing on, beginning to move mid-air. Turning back, she saw Keith visibly straining as he made a pulling motion with his hands, clearly controlling the three disks they were on to move towards Lionel’s direction. As they picked up speed, she felt the wind blowing into her face and into her hair. Alright, they were going at a good speed. Inclining her head, she turned to check on Ezra and Lionel, who were now awkwardly standing together on the same disk after the boy had gotten off Ezra’s arms. The man, Ezra, seemed to be doing just fine, though he had scrapes and tears all across his lab coat, alongside a few branches and leaves caught up from back in the forest. He looked dishevelled and fatigued, expectantly, but nothing worse for the wear. As for Lionel, well…… the poor boy seemed unable to decide between astonishment and terror, and kept on seemingly alternating between both. He kept turning to Keith with a look of half-confusion and bewilderment, then at the moving water disk he was standing on, then changed his expression to fear and shock when he saw the rampaging abominations behind them, before turning back to Keith and repeating the pattern all over again. That was…… normal, pretty normal, actually, considering this was probably his first time witnessing these abominations, and being in this situation. That, and the fact that he was an untrained kid. She found herself having to keep reminding herself of the fact that Lionel was just a kid. Was it because this was an emergency and she found her thoughts keep getting scrambled? Maybe she just wasn’t used to dealing with kids.
Wait, didn’t he initially say that she and the other two men had come out of a Crack? Had he been near one? Did he encounter any of these abominations beforehand? No, he wouldn’t have survived if that had been the case. As she was having such thoughts, the boy broke out of his pattern of awe and fear, before pointing to a nearby cottage near the outskirts of the town. “There it is! It’s safe!” She could almost hear the relief in his voice knowing his parents were still untouched by the abominations. Sitting beside the cottage, she also made out a large jeep, most likely the one Lionel was talking about. Alright, that was their ride out of here.
A part of her still insisted on fighting back, trying to save those people, but she suppressed them, alongside her guilt and conscience. They just didn’t have the manpower, the resources, or the coordination to tackle those monsters right now. This whole time, ever since the first breach back in the cave, there had only ever been panicked improvisation and running. A lot of running. She still didn’t know anything about Ezra, or what the man’s Ability was, assuming he was an Origin like them. Not to mention she still wasn’t familiar with Keith, or what he could do with his Ability. If so, she wouldn’t have been caught off-guard by his sudden usage earlier on with these water disks. They had no time, no preparation, no teamwork or coordination. They would just get slaughtered, she told herself.
Still, no matter how many times she repeated this fact to herself, the guilt didn’t go away, knowing she had powers and could have at least tried something to stop them. God, if this was how she was feeling, she didn’t want to think what an ordinary kid like Lionel was going through right now. What if he saw his friends caught up in this mess? What if he knew those people down there getting killed? This was his town after all. It was a bit surprising he hadn’t spoken up once. Maybe he was just too shocked?
She put aside such thoughts for now. The cottage was getting closer, and it was time to disembark. Now then, here’s to hoping the kid’s parents weren’t assholes or idiots.
