Bab 10: Chapter 10: Rampaging Blizzard. (Part 2)
"No,that's not true at all. Rather than saying we took care of him… It's more accurate to say that he took care of us…"
"What do you mean by that…?" Ruby asked, somewhat intrigued.
"...We met Julius ten years ago… a month after the apocalypse." Said Lyra.
-Memory
January 2nd of 2025.
"Um… Ava, look… shouldn't we do something?"
The young silver haired girl, muttered as she pointed towards the corner of the shelter. Someone had caught her oceanic blue eyes.
Stood in front of her was Ava, another young midnight blue haired girl with dark eyes. She glanced in the direction she pointed, only to discover a lone curly black haired boy curled up into a ball.
He looked pale, as if he hadn't eaten in a while and below his hollow, despair-filled eyes were many dark circles. It looked like hadn't gotten any sleep either.
Despite being a kid, the adults around him ignored his presence, whether he starved or died, none of them seemed to care.
Ava glanced at Lyra who nodded before the two walked over to him.
"Here, have half."
Upon reaching him, the first thing Ava did was offer half of the cheese and ham sandwich that she had.
"Have half of mine too..." Lyra muttered nervously from behind Ava as she offered some of her tuna sandwich.
Starved, he grabbed the sandwich with his hands and ate it quickly, taking large bites and filling his mouth with it.
"Where's your family?" Ava asked as she watched him eat.
The boy stopped chewing, stared at the ground emotionlessly before responding.
"...Dead."
Lyra's face was stricken with sorrow, but Ava remained expressionless.
"He's just like us…" Lyra whispered.
Ava sighed and pointed at the girl behind her. "I'm Ava, the girl behind me is Lyra. You are?"
"…Julius."
"Julius, we're leaving this shelter. Come with us." Said Ava as she extended a hand towards him.
"..."
It was the first time since the apocalypse began that anyone had shown any concern for him, before he even realised it, he reached for her hand.
That was how they met.
-
After scavenging and travelling with him for a week, they quickly noticed something different about him.
He didn't express himself much, rarely spoke and always did as told. He was very reserved.
"Stop… Mum… dad… sister…" Julius cried in his sleep.
But what made him different wasn't his nature, it was his Nightmares. He would experience one every night without fail.
"Should we wake him up?" Lyra asked whilst stuck close to him.
Because they only had one blanket to share, they would bundle up together to stay warm while sleeping.
"We tried last night. You know it's impossible to wake him up when he's like this. Just focus on staying warm and getting enough rest, we've got a lot of work to do tomorrow."
-
During the mornings, the three of them would scavenge for food and other daily necessities and in the evening they would practise controlling their abilities.
Unlike Ava and Lyra, Julius, however, was sure he had not developed an ability, so instead he watched them practise.
At night they focused on getting enough sleep and preparing everything for the following day.
The days would continue in this manner.
It wasn't easy surviving just the three of them, especially when they were kids. At the time, Julius was 8, Lyra was 11 and Ava was 12.
Due to their underdeveloped bodies, they could only manage so much without the help of adults. On top of that, there was also the issue of monsters.
Although they mainly resided in the danger zones, they would occasionally stumble across one even outside of it.
Occasionally, they would have to relocate because they spotted traces of them.
Even so, despite the struggles, they were managing to get by for the first month.
Everything was going well until… that night at the end of the month.
-
*Pitter!* *Patter!*
With the sound of rain, echoing across an old abandoned house. On a bed whilst bundled up together, the three of them slept soundly.
*Creak!*
With a sudden creak waking her from her sleep, Lyra's eyes slowly opened. After adjusting to the dark, they widened as they spotted a tall brown haired middle-aged man standing by the bed.
Just before she could alert the others and activate her ability, he placed a knife by her neck and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Scream and you die, try anything funny and you die."
She could hear her heart pounding from ear to ear. It was the first time she'd ever ended up in such a situation.
"Same goes for you." He added as he looked to the opposite end of the bed.
Lyra glanced in the same direction only to find Ava frozen with a knife aimed at her throat by a separate bald man.
The sound of rummaging echoed throughout the house only to stop as a black-haired man appeared by the door.
"I've got everything. They didn't have much but it should last us a while."
"Alright, let's go. Both of you, get up."
Having never encountered such a situation before, they complied fearfully.
"We're bringing them too?" The black haired man asked as he entered the room.
"Yeah, there's plenty of uses for them." The brown haired man responded while they kept their knives at their necks.
Hearing that, both Ava and Lyra felt chills rush down their spines.
"Then, what about him?" The black haired man asked as he pointed towards the bed.
In spite of all the noise they made, Julius was still fast asleep in the middle of the bed, showing no signs of waking up.
"Ah, him? You can kill him."
Ava and Lyra's hearts sank upon hearing those words.
They watched, their hearts pounding as the third man walked up towards the bed with his knife out.
"Wait...! We'll do whatever you tell us… don't hurt him!" Lyra begged as tears streamed down her face.
"It's supplies that you want, right? I have more stored up, I'll tell you where they are if you let him go." Ava declared, nervously.
The black haired man stopped by the bed, looking towards the brown haired man as if awaiting instructions.
"Kill him."
In that instant, the man quickly thrust the knife towards Julius's neck, forcing Ava and Lyra's hearts to drop.
*Splatter!*
And a split second later, the walls were splattered with blood.
Everyone in the room froze at that moment. After all, the blood didn't belong to Julius but rather, the man who had attacked him.
Just moments before his knife reached his Julius, something collided with his head, causing it to burst.
As the outside grew darker, the sound of the rain crashing against the windows had faded from the room. It was deathly quiet.
*Thud!*
It was the sound of the headless corpse collapsing onto the floor that broke the silence.
"What just-"
*Pierce*
The bald man was interrupted as a spike erupted from the shadows of the wall behind him, piercing his head.
Ava's pyjamas were stained with his blood as his body slowly slid down the wall. Her eyes were wide open in fear.
But in that moment, the one who was feeling the most fear wasn't either of the two girls but rather, the only man left.
"W-What's happening!?" He yelled as he pressed the knife further onto Lyra's neck. "Make it stop! I'll kill you! I'll do it-"
*Crunch!*
The man's speech abruptly ceased and he fell to the ground without Ava or Lyra catching what had happened.
They heard a crunch and next thing they knew, he was on the floor with his head rotated 180 degrees.
Lyra and Ava stood frozen in fear. They felt nauseous, their hearts wouldn't stop pounding.
They didn't move a muscle, and held their breaths as they stared at the bed. The fear was that overwhelming.
Once again, the deafening silence had returned.
For how long? For how long would they have to stay frozen? Could they move? Would they be killed if they did?
Their mind was racing, cold sweat poured down their faces.
*Pitter* *Patter!*
Their hearts almost leapt out of their chests, as the sound of rain crashing against the windows suddenly returned.
"J-Julius…?" Ava hesitantly out to him after catching her breath.
"..."
There was no response, Julius was fast asleep. The was the first time they witnessed Julius's ability.
-Memory end.
"After Julius woke up, he had no recollection of the event. We told him what had happened and how he had saved our lives. He was excited at first to discover that he had an ability but that excitement quickly died down when he discovered that he couldn't control it."
Ruby silently listened as Lyra continued.
"He became convinced that he was useless and It probably looked like it from his perspective, but to us, we wouldn't have been able to sleep at night and would've died many times up until now if not for him… we owe him our lives."
She glanced at Julius, who was fast asleep, her cheeks puffing up in a pout.
"But he's stubborn, because he couldn't control his ability, he'd convinced himself that he was useless. Thankfully he can control it now, I'm sure this will help him get over that mindset."
"Julius is very important to you, isn't he?" Ruby asked with a smile.
"Yeah." Lyra responded shyly, her cheeks reddening.
*Grumble!*
Lyra's stomach rumbled, causing her to lower her head in embarrassment.
"Ah, right, I forgot to mention that the elixir makes you hungrier too. Shall we make something to eat?"
Lyra nodded, her face still red.
"T-That'll be a good idea. They'll have something to eat once they wake up too."
"How does salamander meat sound?"
"What?"
Hadiah
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