Black.

Everywhere was black and hot and smelled of burning.

The ground crunched beneath their feet, residue of tall buildings and people. Nothing remained for a good few miles radius. Just black. Some places were still giving off smoke.

They moved quickly to the east.

His body felt weak as he trotted behind her, again, carrying more than her. He wanted to drop some of it, but it would take too long to sort out what they really could do without for a while when all the items were actually necessities. And he should be more grateful to her. She did save his life more than once.

His ankle was better, but it still had a dull throb when he walked, causing him to trot like a lame mule.

He looked towards the northwest to see what became of the yellow smoke. It had moved farther north rather than east. He felt a bit of emotional relief which lightened his physical load some.

It still seemed to take forever to get to the edge of the wasted land.

It was rougher going through the tall grass.

"How much longer, Ai? We need more water. We need to rest." She did not respond. He imagined a tired, worried grimace on her face, though he could not see it.

He resigned himself to a long, miserable trek.

At some point, he began to see something strange out in the distance. It was not completely solid, so he had a hard time even when squinting. He did notice that Aino had started to pick up the pace.

They were close. They were so close. That had to be the edge!

They were sprinting. Or flying. Or something. He felt the weird cushioning under his feet as he moved as quickly as he could behind her.

The weird structure grew more focused. It was not a building but a fence. It was a tall fence that stretched across the grasslands, farther than he could see, in either direction.

She slowed as they approached, and he felt a change underneath him as he set his feet on solid ground again.

"Is...is this it?" he asked, shifting the gear on his back.

It was just a tall wire fence close to four people tall. There were no barbs on top. There were no signs. There were no people or buildings or any sign of civilized life.

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Aino squatted down and took out something from her pocket. She pressed it into the fence, and it buzzed.

She dropped the small object, now completely black like ash.

"We will have to jump, but…" she trailed off, looking into the distance beyond the gate. He waited, but after about ten minutes of her not talking, he sighed, dropped his stuff and examined the fence himself.

It was wire. It must be electrified since whatever Aino pressed against it caused it to disintegrate. No gates were around to try to break through. The dirt was loose from when they had installed it, but it seemed as if the posts went fairly deep into the ground.

Eien walked back and forth along the wall for a bit when Aino spoke, “Can you throw?” He looked up at the height of the fence.

“I can try. But if a gun hits the fence, and the fence is that electric, it could explode. Hit us, attract people or monsters. It’s not good.” She stood up straight and started sorting through their things.

Eventually, they cut down their load to two smaller packs. Each had only one gun and a knife, and Aino still kept her throwing club. She handed both packs to Eien.

“Throw them over,” she said. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and hurled the first pack up in the air.

He watched as it made it about three fourths of the way up and started to go toward the fence, but then something happened.

It looked like it bounced briefly in the air and then sailed over the fence, landing with a plop on the other side.

Aino was breathing heavily.

“Next,” she said. He tossed the next one with a grunt. It did not make it nearly as far as the first one, but the same thing happened. He watched as Aino muttered something under her breath and pointed two fingers at the pack in the air. It bounced over as well.

At this, she sank to her knees, closed her eyes, and laid back. Eien waited for a moment, and then he started to panic.

“Ai! Ai! What was that? What happened? Are you awake? We can’t stay here!” he shook her a bit as she opened her eyes again. Her breathing was ragged.

“Can...can you carry me?” she asked.

“Yes, yes, on my back, I can carry you for a bit. But our stuff is over there, what….what are we doing?” She closed her eyes and opened them slowly. She was annoyed with him for asking too many questions instead of doing what she told him to do. He swallowed the rest of his words and stored them in the back of his mind for later.

She was heavy. He groaned a bit as he hefted her up on his back. He hooked his arms under her legs as her hands dangled around his neck.

How did he get here? How in the world was the monster that was this woman so weak as to need his help?

“Back up and run,” she whispered. Inwardly, his guts melted into paste. He was going to die. There was no way he could run with her on his back. He had no other option, so he backed up a bit and then started to run.

As he ran, he felt the strangeness in his steps. He saw the ground become farther and farther away. He heard her whispering with each step he took, and he felt the heat grow on his back. He also felt his stomach drop and his feet start to falter as he ran on an invisible staircase up to the top of the fence.

“Keep going,” she gasped, and he pushed his body to its limit, groaning loudly under the exertion. He breached the top of the fence! They were over!

And there was no longer anything under his feet. And he fell with her face forward, flipping through the air. A scream erupted from his lips, and he landed on his back, his lungs devoid of wind, Aino next to him passed out in an awkward lump.

He could not help the tears that formed in his eyes. He tried to move, but he was unable to move even his fingers. While Aino slept, he stared at the sky, weeping.