A single high-pitched beep managed to piece the silence of the Void.

It was followed by another and then another.

Each subsequent beep came in equal intervals and with each passing beep, Akairo came to feel more and more of himself.

He wiggled his toes only for pain to flood his body.

This made his eyes pop open but he just as quickly squinted as a bright white light from above bathed him in bright white light.

Akairo looked around to find that he was in some sort of infirmary.

Several people were sleeping in hospital beds and they each had various injuries, some of which left them with missing limbs.

Akairo lightly gasped upon hearing the sounds of movement to his left.

He turned his eyes to find a weary-eyed woman walking towards him with a tray in hand. She wore a pale blue uniform and had her black hair bound in a bun.

Her pale skin was lined with frown lines even though she didn’t look much older than twenty five and her eyes were half closed.

She walked up to the bed atop which Akairo rested and offered him the tray which held a plate with a cubical serving of a clear green jelly, a heap of what looked like mashed potatoes, a spoon and a cup of water.

“Here.” She wheezed.

Akairo let out a pained groan before sitting up with what little energy his arms had.

This revealed to him that he was covered in a new set of bandages although these ones were thinner than his old ones. He also had several tubes and wires connected to his left arm and they originated from a device next to the bed. It was this device which was responsible for the beeps.

Akairo accepted the tray and the nurse gave him a nod before sighing.

“Be sure to finish your jelly. It’s got everything you need to help with your recovery, alright?”

Akairo gave the woman a nod and she promptly turned and left.

He then turned to his food but just as he took a breath to think, someone called out to him from across the room.

“Hey, kid.”

Akairo looked forward to find that the person calling him was a woman who sat mostly upright on her hospital bed only she had no legs. Her face was also covered in bandages, although bits of yellow hair could be seen sticking out of certain spots.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to disturb ya- it’s just… I heard you were from Eastview and uh… I have family there. So tell me… did the same thing that happened to Southview happen there too? Did the city just… vanish?” The woman asked and her words caused visions of that dark day to flood into Akairo’s mind.

“Did that thing appear there as well-“

“Hey! Leave the poor kid alone, will ya?”

The man in the hospital bed to Akairo’s left snapped but the woman’s eyes trembled as they filled with tears.

“Tell me…”

Akairo opened his dry lips and mouthed the word “Yes”.

Tears then began to fall from the woman’s eyes only to be absorbed by her bandages.

She then pressed her hands on her face and broke into a wail that filled the room.

“Hey, boy.”

Akairo turned to his right and looked into the eyes of a man, who had lost his right arm. His long brown hair was messily bound to in a ponytail and his skin, although brown and smooth for the most part, was covered in scars. He also seemed fairly muscular and he wore a pair of glasses that made his eyes look far bigger than they probably were.

“Eat up.” He urged with a faint smile.

“They’ll be throwin’ those of us who can still walk outa here not too long from now.”

Akairo nodded before eying his green jelly.

He ate a spoonful and was surprised upon noticing its strangely grainy texture.

Akairo’s surprise turned into relief as a wave of clarity washed over him.

His pain wasn’t gone, he just felt a little less tired.

“Keep going.” The man encouraged, making Akairo eat faster.

“Whoa there! I didn’t say shovel it all into your mouth. You’ll only choke on something that way.” The man chuckled but although Akairo wanted to smile back, he found himself unable.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He took a deep breath and returned to eating while the whimpers of the woman in front of him filled the room.

He eventually finished eating and the nurse from before returned to collect his tray.

“Alright. You all have an hour to rest before you have to relocate.” She said in a monotone manner as she turned to leave.

Akairo watched as she left and his eyes trailed to the left of his bed where a basket sat.

Within it, sat his old clothes and a dirtied police jacket.

Akairo’s eyes widened and, without thinking, he found himself leaning to the side

He reached down, even though his body radiated with familiar pain, and grabbed the jacket before tightly clutching it as his vision blurred.

He remembered the time when he set the cruiser on fire and so, as his heart pounded on his small chest, he took deep and rapid breaths.

His heart gradually slowed down and as it did, he realized that he had no one left.

Engel, Lieve, lrren, Hamia and almost all of Eastview.

Gone.

“Hehe.” Akairo chuckled. He raised a brow upon seeing that his breath had few embers in it but he didn’t care anymore.

He was alone and so the only remaining thought in his mind was that of survival.

He hadn’t suffered through all that just to die and so he took a deep breath while gathering his thoughts.

“Umm… you ok, kid?” The man to Akairo’s left asked and it was here that he noticed that he was grinning.

Akairo consciously stiffened his expression while turning to the man.

He then gave the man a curt nod.

“A-alright?” The man said although his eyes were laden with concern.

Akairo ignored the man and instead turned to his surroundings.

He was in a tent somewhere.

He remembered making it to Babilu so he was probably inside or not too far outside.

Akairo then wondered about where he was going to be taken when the time he and the others were given had elapsed.

He looked up and, via a transparent square-shaped part of the tent, peered into the dark stormy night sky above although strange structures could be seen high above.

His skin crawled as he dreaded the colour changing red by even a single shade.

Akairo blinked a few times, keeping his mind from returning to that moment.

He laid back, allowing his head to rest on his bed and just as he did, his eyelids grew heavy.

Akairo’s eyes slowly closed. His last thought was one of fear.

A fear that was temporarily muted as his mind submerged into unconsciousness.

.

..

“Hey, kid!”

Akairo’s eyes popped open.

He slowly sat up to find that his fellow patients were leaving the room. Some used crutches to walk while others had wheelchairs.

He turned to his left to find that the man who once sat there was gone.

On his bed was a large blood stain but this was true for most of them.

He tried getting off the bed and although his movements were followed by pain, it wasn’t as bad as what he had felt on the way to Babilu and so he did so without much struggle.

He slipped into his old clothes and put on Daş’s jacket before following the others out of the room.

A nurse stood by the doorway and she guided everyone out.

Akairo’s eyes widened as he entered a dim hallway which was lined with several guards who held batons in their hands.

Yells and screams could be heard seeping into the tent from beyond its dirty blood-stained walls.

Akairo’s group was led out of the tent revealing a large encampment that seemed to be within a gargantuan cylindrical structure, parts of which were missing, allowing the grey morning sky’s light and rain to gently wash in.

Dotted across the structure were large pillars which held up a platform beneath which was a vast sea of cables and tubing.

Akairo’s group was led to a tent outside of which stood a long queue of people.

The nurse led the group to the queue before returning to the tent from which she came.

The air was restless with the murmurs of the weary and it was here that Akairo’s heart began racing but he took deep and focused breaths all while dreading the return of flame.

He had become content with its existence but he also didn’t want to spontaneously combust and so he took several deep breaths.

His turn eventually came in the queue and a visibly fatigued man asked for his name, surname, date of birth, country of birth and fingerprint.

Akairo gave him the details he could remember along with his fingerprint and the man rapidly tapped on the surface of a floating two-dimensional display which was made of blue light that came from a small, circular device on the table the man worked behind.

A machine to the man’s right then rattled before spitting out a dark grey card.

The man handed the card to Akairo who accepted it with a bandage-covered hand.

The card was dark blue and had a texture similar to that of a fingerprint. Beneath its surface, however, were countless lines of circuitry.

Akairo gasped as the card suddenly flashed a pale blue.

His face then appeared on the card next to the details he had given alongside others which he didn’t.

[Name: Akairo Kivuli Kamaitachi

DOB: 33agw

Nationality: Ashinokuni

Refugee number: 4101204]

“Try not to lose it.” The man droned monotonously before turning his gaze back to his display.

“And please proceed to tent T-R10-C01.” The man instructed tiredly.

Akairo nodded and promptly walked towards the tent’s exit. As he did, he looked his ID over.

He then inspected the collection of dirty, dark grey tents before him.

Floating above, beneath the dark grey morning sky, was a display which showed the time.

It read “04:49” and had a line of text flashing beneath it which read “-20 minutes until meal 1”.

Akairo suddenly gasped and nearly fell over as a man bumped into him on the way out of the tent.

This reminded Akairo that he had to go to where he was instructed and so he looked at the tents and saw that they were each labelled with the one in front of him being “T-R10-C04”.

He looked at the next one to his left and saw “T-R10-C03”.

Akairo walked to the left, avoiding anyone he came across until he found what he was looking for.

“T-R10-C01”, like the others, was a large tent which had a single entrance at its right side.

Akairo cautiously approached the tent and opened its flaps revealing a space with eight small beds inside. Six of which were occupied by weary-eyed people. Each futon was accompanied by a small plastic box.

His eyes then widened as he realized that one of the free beds had a sticker which was labelled “04101204”.

Akairo checked his identification card and saw that his refugee number matched the one on the bed so he walked up to it and promptly sat down.

It's here that he finally allowed himself to sigh.

He eyed the nametag on the jacket which shielded him from the morning cold. A cold that the tent did a poor job of staving off.

He clutched it tightly but suddenly remembered the red sky and that memory brought with it fire.

An ember then came out of Akairo’s mouth as his breath but, unlike before, Akairo cupped his hands and cradled the falling ember as tears fell from his eyes.

His next breath was normal, but he promised himself that although he wanted to find a way to stop the fire from hurting him, he was also determined to keep it alive until he drew his last breath.