Chapter 11

“Wh… at. You,” William mumbled, feeling despair, headache, hunger, and immense pain rushing into his body. Mainly, it crashed his mind when he moved his right hand. A sharp pain pierced him and he cried out, wincing and feeling the coldness of the mud and... his blood. It didn't change a thing for him. He felt heat, pain, and sadness. He should've kept sleeping, dreaming of that hand.

“P-lease... calm down.” the boy in the darkness said, half whimpering and half hoping William would calm down on his own because he couldn't see him.

“Where… is mother?” William uttered his hope before collapsing, almost closing his eyes. His bleeding wasn't pretty, and his wounds were near fatal, if not fatal for anyone else.

He was close to crying, and that was one of the few things that he hated doing. Even when his mother said it was fine, he refused to cry.

Yet he did. Today, he cried. Not once, in fact. He wasn't proud of it.

“Dead… Everyone is dead,” the crying boy said, wailing even more, and feeling no hope.

“No… no cry!” William shouted in an unnatural voice of anger that came to him like a sudden storm, causing the numbness and something to snap.

A crimson light penetrated the darkness, coming from his Emblem. The Emblem snapped and woke up after an unknown time, giving William a new sensitivity and change. Then light.

It throbbed as if it were his second heart, and pain and buzzing changed to a new level.

William clutched his right arm, ignoring rushing blood that winced as if frozen and shaking and burning. He saw gobbling blood and his wounds thanks to the crimson light that began radiating from his Emblem. It was intense like a flame, but without any obvious heat. It was more... strange. Alien.

Then, a Screen arrived, giving William what he ought to respect and see.

[Code 0 prompted]

[Target met its Mark]

[Subject Six has awoken]

[Rank 0 has been assailed and Incursion stopped]

[Time: passable]

[Degree of the Fourth Mark: Excellent]

[Further report is nonexistent. The growth and living condition of Rank 0, Subject Six, Hunts, and Cycles: dying]

[Growth Factor is coming. Do your duty.]

Shaky symbols followed an unknown voice. Then, everything disappeared, and the Emblem in a much brighter form, manifesting like a flickering storm, changed. Lines and symbol strings moved into William's flesh and blood vessels, and visibly and physically changed many things on and inside of him. Emblem churred in delight and light was blinding or huffed like a broken bulb.

On that day, under some debris, William screamed when his body was slowly stitched together, changing from the inside out, and he was unable to remain quiet.

For an hour, the whimpering and panicking crying boy didn't know what to do or say. He watched a terrific sight before him from time to time, snagged in a corner of this small cave under rubble. Red flashes of blood and light couldn’t escape his sight.

It was no monster before him, but it felt so dreadful and weird due to moving blood, lines, screams, and crimson light.

William couldn't stop anything.

The insides of this space came into the view of two pairs of eyes after a couple of hours.

William looked like shit; he was drained and unable to move, let alone think straight after what just happened. The brightest of his Emblem got better in a simple form, leaving him shaking on the bloodied ground. Flashes of the light caused this place to be quite hideous, while the crying boy was the furthest he could be. That meant fairly close, as he waited for William to be dead or silent.

He looked forward, noticing no corpse at last and less screaming. William was still bloody, and his whole body was bruised all over, looking moist yet dense when blood and some health returned. Some blood tried to come back, closing to where it should go, but due to the huffed tones and light, it wasn't as obvious.

William should've bled out, or so the boy in front of him thought.

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“You!” the youth wearing an old shirt and trousers said, hugging his knees and looking scared. He didn't know how to approach William, see that object, wounds, but he knew what it meant and what the world was like. He was seven years old and grew up as a normal person in this camp, so he knew what Walkers were and what made them special.

William didn't pay him much attention. He was lying on his stomach, half trying to get up. His right arm was close to his face, so the sight over his Emblem was much more intense. His mind didn't betray him, unfortunately.

Not far from him, floating before the unknown boy, a large screen emerged out of nowhere, looking as if made of countless buzzing bees, flickering lines, numbers, symbols, and who knew what else. They were all tiny, looking like ripples of space, water, or mist. It was akin to a wall that broke and wasn't physical.

Both boys watched something else without knowing what was before them.

“M-my name is Dann…” Now, a slightly less crying boy said, moving closer to check the light and William out. He could see him moving, moaning, and living. This space was barely tall for a kid to be in. They were lost and likely sealed under debris.

William was transfixed by that Screen, seemingly lost in its beauty or memory. Had he watched it in the past, or was it the first time? He doubted many things, his memory wasn't that great, and the pain or its symbolism was a mess. He found it beautiful yet menacing and itching his eyes and hand.

Dann was approaching, but William moved his right arm at him and touched that Screen first, changing the ripples and waves as if he touched something sensitive. Mostly subtle and dull, everything flickered because of his touch. Then, everything changed.

A large number 0 emerged, surrounded by the waves and countless symbols and words of no English of a human tongue. There was a countdown in years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds around that number. Many digits kept flickering.

No voice came beside Dann and his shifting steps.

The ticking time of eight digits shattered soon afterward, flying into William's arm like bees, ripples of space, and snakes thinner than hair. He panicked, feeling as if something foreign was coming and invading his body. It was impossible to stop it. Those noises spread and returned, causing loud pain and sharp discomfort, and even Dann hesitated to come closer when William panicked again.

This time, Dann was close and curious, so he clutched William's convulsing body and head, no longer escaping. He was unable to see that Screen or anything that had happened in the past few hours. It wasn’t for his eyes to see.

“D-don't... no pain. No... Calm down. There is nothing here. Nothing to hurt you.” Dann tried to speak to him, unaware of the pain or noises William was enduring.

It took more than an hour of constant battering for William to realize it wasn't going away. His arm twitched, but it was considerably calmer than before, while Dann kept him from convulsing too much. His head seemed well if well meant half wishing for death and sleep, thanks to the buzzing noise that felt ever so close.

Something about his Emblem was different. It was more glossy, thicker, and much deeper in crimson waves and storms. Rank 0 has done its duty, creating a new kind of prison. William’s skin was still trembling, and many traces of cracks were slowly leaving. Blood dried, and his face was barely able to see the thin red light of this little cave.

“William.” He said to Dann aside from him, causing the youth to awkwardly smile. He lessened his grip over William and realized this little worst episode was over and he was alive, yet unaware of his changes.

“I thought you were gone... That was scary. Very scary. Not as some monsters, but you know... I....” Dann stopped smiling and realized the gravity of his life and situation. Everyone was dead so his smile froze and tears almost spread.

“W-what is that noise?” William asked, taking Dann's help to crawl and sit up. Physical pain felt joyful like soreness that made him alive. Bruises were sharp and hot, similar to cuts, but he was no longer bleeding too much. Broken bones were definitely among his worst injuries right now, but he was surprisingly dull and less broken than expected.

For an immature kid, he kept his head straight. Perhaps he wasn't even sure how or what to feel. His parents hadn't made their duties, or help, known. Neither of the kids in this cave knew how a terrible disaster destroyed their home.

And it wasn't over yet. They were buried, but shrieks, noises, and countless trembling noises were tangible through the ground. Small gaps in rocks made noises tangible, fidgeting and vibrating.

Thuds followed like unending drops, accompanied by huffed voices, shouts, and what seemed like explosions that churred the dust and some debris around them. Everything felt so weird in this space, illuminated thanks to crimson light coming from William's Emblem.

“Those?” Dann said, taking the noise and trembling for bad things that should soon disappear. “Nothing. They are nothing.” He lied.

William didn't believe him. Some of it was real, while some of those noises were his, he assumed.

Scratching his wounds, William involuntary touched his Emblem, letting crimson light skip a beat. Emblem trembled before dropping down, cluttering, and making sharp noises as it hit the ground, successfully ''escaping'' its prison.

William cried out, sensing that the light and something sharp had gone missing. It was a different kind of warm feeling. He lost that noise. The pain lessened, and he felt much lighter, but also... empty. It made him uncomfortable in a different way. He didn't like it, which was surprising.

The Emblem clicked against the rock, resting on the ground and looking like a lost glossy coin. It was still triangular, resembling a coin no wider than a couple of thumbs. Inside of it were storms of crimson energy, looking big, yet smaller than dust. It held a majestic vision thanks to the flashes of crimson light coming out of it, as well as something deep moving inside.

It escaped from the rules of flesh. It wasn't a good thing, or so Dann believed. He heard that when Walkers died, they would lose their Emblems. But William was breathing and looking good, so he was confused.

William gazed at it like Dann, watching this crimson object. There were stones and debris around them, and no way out.

For the first time, he looked at Dann; the boy ended up in similar shoes as him, crawling closely, and curiously asking. “What is it? It is... warm, but... isn't it bad?”

William was unaware of what he meant.

They watched the crimson particles of this special object that hid things resembling veins, mist, or even some fingers, or geometrical patterns. The light from the particles made everything shine in mysterious luster.

It calmed both of them, even though it couldn't remind them of anything calm. After all, it was crimson, the color of blood.

The sounds from outside never stopped, which soon shifted when both boys stopped paying this light and Emblem much attention. They could see it wasn't moving, changing, or... doing a thing. It kept glowing and its inner flow was hidden behind a glossy finish. There was nothing wrong with it, or so William wanted to believe but couldn’t.

The outside noises never stopped. It was even worse when cries and banging noises overcame the explosive fights, coming from some close distance away.

“T-there are people… hurt or eaten by the monsters. The bunker is.... underground. They keep banging… shouting... never-ending,” Dann uttered an inaudible cry, describing the demise of people.

And he was right.

It kept going until it stopped, and then it started again.

William hated it.