Vivatti was quite rightly nervous once we let the moth-man take off like an ICBM, most likely becasue he didn't know what I would want in return but perhaps also because he feared the man would come back/

He probably expected me to be some kind of tyrant that was going to start running the place..

Except it was the complete opposite; I wanted to get out of there and as far away as soon as possible.

Fuck this place.

There was a nice little bonus in that Don’s two 'goons' apparently had zero interested in getting revenge against me.

Oh quite on the contraire.

They were overjoyed and relieved.

And understandably as well, when one of them confessed they had been planning to 'off' Don themselves, after he sexually assaulted his new girlfriend he'd fallen head overs heels for.

Love conquers all

None of the four twats from the bridge returned, but Siya mentioned she had faintly heard three distinct voices screaming, separately.

Which I didn't notice, but she had exceptional senses so..fair enough...and as for the fourth? Who knows. Probably will turn up super jacked one day looking for revenge…

..

Ha, if life was an anime perhaps.

The guy was most certainly dead.

So once all that shit was ironed out, I just gave it to Vivatti straight and said I had done my part, thanks for the miserable time and see ya' later. Vivatti didn't try to stop me or convince me to stay and the whole thing had felt pretty strange, yet people seemed relieved once everything was squared away and Don had been dumped into a hole and buried.

Kind of like when that one dickhead turns up at the party then finally leaves after getting into a fight they lose, or taken away by the police.

However, we were invited to a delicious sounding meal along with a pack of food for the road and the offer to stay for the night, but I declined..except for a small bit of food.

Only an absolute idiot would trust these people that much, and besides, they need that stuff more than us.

Instead, some of us mainly English speakers had ended up spending time around a nice warm fire, eating and awkwardly discussing the usual hot topics in an apocolypse, mostly around what I recommended they should do to increase their chances of survival.

As if I have any clue what I’m doing...

I just laid it out as plain and simple as I could muster.

Work in teams always. Become best friends wih healers or choose regeneration skills. Practice tactics whenever you can and never exclude anyone. And then once all that is done, go out and clear your space.

But most importantly, help everyone you can and never leave anyone behind.

The group already had a few healers which would give them a good chance if they worked together, and I ensured to take advantag of my liberator status to blag as much healing tonic water as I could carry.

They thought we were barking mad wanting to leave as it was getting dark..And we let them think that, not giving away that the dark would not hinder us at all.

The plan was to leave without saying goodbye to avoid anyone following us...yet, as we snuck off and hurried down the road, Vivatti came huffing and puffing up, calling out for me to wait a moment so I reluctantly stopped and let him catch up.

He was running full tilt and his feet slapped noisily against the ground.

"Haah-haah-you-heading-off-already?" He was out of breath which was surprising, considering what his attributes should be.

"Yeah, you good?" I said.

"Damn. Phew. I ran all over, even the opposite way first, trying to find you. Nobody saw you leaving this way." He grinned at me, catching his breath.

That's because we snuck off…actually how can you even see us-

"Ah sorry, we didn't want to risk anyone following. Is everything okay?" I stayed polite.

"With it being this dark? I don't know how you both can navigate..but I understand. I wanted to give you these. For helping us. The group has already decided we're going to decide things by vote and becoming stronger is our priority. Tomorrow the strongest team will go out and start looking for a place that's suitable whilst looking for others. But I just wanted to say, thanks. Again. I feel like things are going to get better for us now." He held out a pack which I just took without argument, as it was probably the quickest way to end this conversation and keep going.

Not that I dislike the chap, but I have got places to be.

"Thanks, I appreciate the gesture but you didn't have to.."

I opened the bag and stopped, staring at what was inside.

Goddammit. That generous bastard…now I feel like a right shit.

He started to walk away-

"Vivatti! Hold on! How the hell did you get this? This is..Bah, here, take my hand a second, I can't just go and leave you empty handed now....but listen! I'm trusting you not to turn into a monster with this." I grinned and extended my hand, which he took

"Ah well that's a crafters secret, and what do you mean-OH BY THE HOLY MOTHER-" his jaw dropped.

Shared I NEC and I VoMP successfully.

"This is.. thank you. Truly. I will not waste these precious gifts." He gave me a serious look.

"Ha good to hear it, I hope they help you and yours out. And I won't pry on how you got this kit, but hopefully we’re square now. I'm sorry though, we really have to get going. Vivatti, you take care of yourselves alright?" Keeping it short I nodded at him.

"Truly, I am very grateful for this and everything else you have done for a group of people you barely know. I hope our gifts help you on your journey. You take care too Godu. Farewell." He turned around and left.

We did the same.

I looked back down at the contents of the bag and smiled with a touch of insanity.

Label: Black Greaves

Notes: Made of an exotic material, these modernised Greaves will provide protection up to just above the knee. Self repairs and self cleans using MP. Compatible with Null Claw Armaments.

I had acted as cool as possible, but inside I was freaking out.

How wild is this. Was this a coincidence? Or was this meant to happen..Incredible. I wonder if he knows the value of what he gave me?

My claw armaments skill had an upgrade that required this kind of footwear and suddenly I had a pair of them…

That cannot be a simple coincidence…or maybe he knew something I didn't-

#Siya# Are you troubled Godu? What did he give you?

#Godu# Hm? Oh. Always-I mean, nah, don't worry I'm okay. Let's find somewhere to sleep and eat and I'll explain

I equipped my shiny new gear straight away.

…

..

.

We travelled for another hour in what would have been the pitch black night, passing creepy overgrown brush and wildland, but it was not long before exhaustion started to weigh heavily on me and I longed for a rest. With that in mind we kept an eye out for somewhere to sleep, and, sometime later we spotted a large two storey building that upon further inspection was residential but it had roof access which I was a big fan of, nice quick way to escape, and it was on a main road close to the E45 so we would lose little time getting back on track in the morning.

Perfect.

Instead of slipfolding, I somewhat awkwardly surge-jumped and then glided down, landing with a bit of a tumble.

Woah-OOF..that was harder than I expected-

Siya clearly took this as a challenge, so she leapt up with a single thrust of her wings, drifting over elegantly making it look far too easy.

Tsk, show off..

I took egotistical comfort in it being my first time and mentally patted myself on the back for giving it a solid try.

Good effort..keep practising.

Then we descended the stairwell.

#Godu# Do you think anything is here Siya?

The corridor was open to the elements on either end, creating a long shared porch for the flats; I kept my eyes peeled around my colour faded surroundings. Even with such incredible night vision, it was still unsettling walking around in the pitch black since there were still plenty of cracks and crevices for a horror to lurk in wait..

#Siya# I sense no presence. It appears empty but I can smell food.

#Godu# Really?

I sniffed deeply but couldn't smell anything, but Siya had never been wrong before.

#Godu# Let's go check it out, lead the way.

We moved down the corridor and stopped at the second door.

Siya froze, her antennae ears twitched slightly and swivelled slowly like a radar.

#Siya# This one.

I nodded then knocked on the door gently.

"Hello, is anyone home?" I called out through the letterbox and listened for a response.

None came and the door was locked, so I tried calling out again while weighing up the options.

BReak in and possibly risk a fight with little reward, or check other flats for an empty one and sleep peacefully..

#Godu# Welp that's that then. Let's leave this and find an unlocked one.

#Siya# Okay.

There were 6 in total and the first 3 were locked, but the fourth opened with a creak and after a quick peek inside, it look actually tidy and clear, so we hurried in and locked the door.

#Godu# Wow, this is quite nice! Smells fresh too. Let's check the other rooms and then see if there's anything edible left.

The entrance went into a large living room and there was a door on the right and the left held another door. I went towards the left door and Siya went to the right.

#Siya# Food room.

She got the kitchen.

#Godu# Nice. This will probably be the bedrooms then.

I opened the door and sure enough there was a large bedroom with another door which I presumed was the ensuite.

Hmmm..

Something was off though, the room felt warm and the bed covers were messed up.

What is that haze-

I froze as something pressed against the side of my neck.

"Se ti muovi, ti taglio la testa.." A female Italian voice inches away from my face whispered. Italian.

Balls.

I froze, contemplating if I could move quicker or Slipfold before she could kill me.

Probably not. I didn’t even notice her approach.

...

Big balls.

"Okay easy. I'm sorry, but I don't speak Italian. I'm English. Sorry, I didn't know anyone was here. We can go if you-"

"English?" She paused, the blade against my neck moved ever so slightly away.

"Che diavolo ci fai qui e come sei sopravvissuto così a lungo.." she muttered something Italian and I suppressed my urge to groan.

Really kinda wish I got that bloody language skill..fuck you hindsight-

"Listen, I really can't speak Italian, but me and my friend don't want any trouble or want to take anything from you. She's in the kitchen right now and she might get upset if you have a knife to my neck. Please, we'll leave and find somewhere else."

"I no English. No speak English." She hissed, sounding annoyed.

Mega balls. How the hell are we going to do this then-

"SKRAAAAAAAAAGH!"

My blood went ice cold as a soul piercing cry vibrated the walls.

#Siya# Corrupted! It is inside the building!

"Dannazione! Gli afflitti!! Trion!" She whispered in horror.

#Godu# Can you tell how many?

#Siya# There are-

*SMASH*

"MAMA!!"

There was a loud crashing from one of the locked apartments follow by a young voice.

With a gasp, the women ran towards the wall and..ghosted right through it.

A kid??

Seconds later she came back through, holding a small sobbing child, possibly even a toddler but froze as she realised I was still here.

She stared at me with bright glowing green eyes, probably wishing she'd cut my head off straight away.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Go go!" I hissed, moving out the way and gesturing to the doorway. She only hesitated for a second before dashing past and heading to the living room.

#Godu# Siya, there's a woman here, she's got a kid but she's also got sharp knives, careful. How many corrupted?

#Siya# Just one. What shall we do?

#Godu# Let's get the hell out of here!

Siya padded silently into the room making the woman yelp and she shifted protectively over the child she was carrying and held up a knife towards Siya.

"Stop! Stop! Friend, she's my friend!!" I hissed at the woman who looked at me like I was insane, so I moved in-between them and placed my hands up to try and symbolise-

"SCREEEEEE"

Oh no. That was a different voice.

#Siya# There are two!

"SCRRIIIIIIIII"

#Siya# Three!!

"ROOOOOIGH"

"RAAGH"

"RUUUUGGHH"

A chorus of guttural roars and bellows filled the hallway and my heart started pounding.

Oh this is just plain SHIT.

My mind raced with thoughts, struggling to find the safest way to get out of this mess.

Should I just Slipfold?

Slipfold was usually the answer.

But is this mom going to huddle close to a stranger and a winged moth girl who speaks zero Italian?...I heavily doubt it. And can I even take more than one person? Now is not the best time to test that out.

We weren't that high up, we could go out the window.

But if we jump down and there's more outside? We are dead. I doubt she can run faster than them carrying the child and I don't know how many walls she can run through.

There's just so many bloody variables that would be solved if I could communicate!

Or can I?!

I put my hand out to the woman and pointed to her hand then to mine.

"I know you don't understand me. But, take my hand, please. I want to try and share my abilities with you." I tried to be as quiet as possible.

She held her dagger up and just looked at my hand then to me with a frantic type of confused look that said 'are you fucking serious? You want to shake hands when there are invulnerable monsters outside the door?'

*CRASH*

A corrupted walked through the wall, only this time it was in the literal sense, sending debris and dust everywhere. The kid wailed out in fear, but the corrupted didn't bat an eye and mercilessly charged at the woman.

Crying out, sh turned her back to it and the corrupted ghosted through her, leaving behind a comically, humanoid outline as it smashed through the outer wall and plunged down. The woman stumbled to the ground into her knees with ragged breaths, drained after using her ghost ability, yet she still clutched the terrified child close and soothed him with hushing sounds.

New screeches and roars filled the air and sounds of crashing came from below, all the noise had attracted the local wildlife and the place had turned into a warzone.

Fuck this! There's no time to piss around!

#Godu# Siya can you make it out by yourself? I'm going to try and take them up to the roof and then the main road.

#Siya# Yes. I'll wait for you first.

She spun around and punched out with her wing, smashing the hole clear of hanging debris then moved over and stood by the gaping exit, waiting for me to make my move.

I stepped over to the woman and held out a hand. We didn't have much time before the building was going to be turned to rubble, so either she trusted me now or I would leave.

And they would die.

"Are you coming with me or not?"

She stared at my hand, then at my face and I saw a strange mix of desperation, anger and defeat..but it only took her two seconds before she took my hand, seemingly accepting that either I wasn't a threat or that she stood better chances against me than the chaos outside.

"Per favore, non fare del male a mio figlio. Fai quello che vuoi di me, ma per favore risparmiargli ogni sofferenza..." She was shaking like a leaf as she stood up, the boy's face was buried into her neck, trying to take shelter in her protective existence from the living nightmare.

The sounds of crashing and fighting reached new levels of frenzy and I could hear that many unidentifiable monsters had reached the corridor and another flat, and the other corrupted.

I'll take that as a yes.

Even though I didn't understand the words, I knew it would be something about keeping the child safe, so I just nodded and took a deep breath.

"If this doesn't work, I'm sorry." I whispered and quickly pulled her to me tightly, wrapping my arms around them both and squeezing a yelp from her.

Several corrupted smashed through the walls scattering debris and dust everywhere and beelined for us.

I Slipfolded..and to my immense relief, it worked flawlessly and we dropped a few centimetres onto the concrete roof.

We made it!-OW!-

The next thing I knew I was being punched painfully in the chest.

"Stupido molestatore inglese! Che cazzo stai facendo, piccolo stupratore di cazzi! So di aver detto che puoi avere qualsiasi cosa, ma questo non significa davanti a mio figlio in questo momento! BASTARDO MALATO! Prova a strofinarmi di nuovo contro e... io... il tuo... cosa? Dove siamo-" she trailed off as she looked around and lowered her knife. She had immediately ripped herself free, fortunately after the slipfold was complete and throwing an angry tirade at me, which was a bit weird considering we had company that I pointed to, and she quickly shut up.

Hunched over their meals, there were two corrupted at the far end, tearing into a pile of corpses; her knife was swiftly brought back up.

They both sloppily snapped their heads around and stared at us as a long bloody chunk of meat slipped out of the gaping mouth of one of them, slapping down onto the floor. Their glowing eyes were terrifying and abnormal, and their skin looked charred, covered in gore and drenched in blood.

I was already frantically placing an anchor on the elevated main road and beckoning the woman.

"Hurry the hell up woman! Come here!" I hissed at her and reached out.

The two corrupted reacted to her movement and lurched forward; from out of nowhere several more over from the roof edge and scrambled forward.

She was too slow.

I watched with a jolt of ice cold shock as she was tackled brutally to the ground, with the boy sent flying and tumbling badly onto the floor. The corrupted completely ignored the child, instead gunning straight for the woman. The thing immediately opened its mouth, clearly having one thing in mind, but she slammed her dagger knife into its jaws, not doing any damage but slowing it down, yet certainly moments away from losing the fight of strength as its face steadily got within centimetres to hers.

Knowing it was probably going to be futile, I dodged the second one that came for me and phased to the one that was on top of her and grabbed its shoulders, but it did not move a single millimetre...But to my complete surprise I managed to get a solid grip and null surged forward unimpeded, dragging the insanely heavy cunt off and flinging him over the edge of the roof.

#Siya# Godu!

Siya screeched, swooped in, and bowled throught the remaining four with her shield wing outstretched and to my astonishment managed to knock them head over heels backwards.

NICE-..SHIT!

They recovered almost immediately and were already charging directly at me.

The woman moved like a bolt of lightning to the child and my eyes could not keep up with her until she slammed into me, unconscious boy underarm and cried out.

"VAI TI PREGO! VAI!" Italian.

My brain went into overdrive as time slowed to a crawl, sounds becoming disjointed from my vision like an out of sync video.

The first corrupted reached out for her head.

I can move her!

Excruciatingly slow like a snail, I shifted her out of the way so its hand just brushed past her ear, slicing it open with a sharp nail. Slipfold was already activating and I watched in fascination as I saw a ripple of thin shimmer form in the air before the watery folds peeled apart and we passed through.

Pulling us? Or did we pull it?

It was impossible to tell.

Time stayed slow as I released the woman and child and slowly spun around, shields were already deploying into Config:Prime as two corrupted were writhing and jerking around trying to pull themselves through the shrinking watery fold of space.

They received a fast series of stabs and blunt attacks from my shields and they started attacking each other in desperation as the hole rapidly shrank, squeezing them painfully tight together.

What happened next I could not fully comprehend.

One minute I blinked, and then the next I was back at the start of it all, with the corrupted reaching out slowly.

Time and sounds came crashing back to normal speed, yet the exact same series of events played out precisely the same, until it was back to me punching and hacking at the two squeezed heads of the frenzied corruptedd until finally their heads were severed in the fold with a wet shlorp.

I dismissed my shields and fell onto my butt breathing heavily. The Slipfold didn't cost much normally, but whenever they forcibly held it open my resources dropped disgustingly fast.

Siya streaked through the night sky and landed with a soft thud, fussing over me, checking for any wounds.

"I-I'm okay Siya! We need to check the boy! T-the boy!" Starting to raise my voice, I stopped myself and gave her an apologetic thin smile at her concern but frantically gestured to the sobbing woman clutching the limp body of the child.

"Parla con me, mio piccolo supereroe. Per favore! La mamma è qui! Adesso va tutto bene, per favore! Oh mi dispiace, mi dispiace tanto! Mio dolce ragazzino.." She was whispering and carefully checking him over but he was unresponsive.

Siya moved over to the boy but flinched as the mother covered him with herself and growled. "Stai lontano da lui! Fottuti mostri! Voi.." the rage drained from her face as she looked up at Siya flinching.

She looked down at the child and then back up and gestured to Siya to look.

"S-sono... mi dispiace, per favore aiuta mio figlio. So che siete brave persone. Per favore, non lasciarlo morire. Lui è tutto ciò che mi è rimasto in questo mondo..." Tears streamed down the womans face as Siya listened to his chest and pressed her head gently onto his.

#Siya# Body alive. Soon fail. Mind damaged. Can be saved. Needs healing fast.

Fucking hell..phew.

Good thing we grabbed plenty of tonics from Vivatti's healers.

I scrabbled into the pack and grabbed one of the water bottles, showing it to the woman and then opening it. I drank a sip and pointed at the boy.

"Ok, vuoi che lo beva mio figlio? Ok." She nodded and lifted his head and held his jaw.

I poured a very small amount into his mouth and doused a bit on his head. The liquid reacted instantly and the boy's veins started to glow with small lights of gold and purple that flowed around all his visible skin before gathering around his forehead and eyes.

A few tense moments passed with only the distant sound of monsters tearing each other apart in the background; the corrupted were most certainly winning..until finally the boy spluttered and coughed, eyes rolled sleepily around in the dark as he croaked out a single word.

"Momma.."

"Sono qui Piccola! Oh bravo ragazzo! La mamma è qui, io sono proprio qui!" She carefully pulled him up and showered him in gentle kisses, rocking him back and forth.

"Grazie. Mille grazie. Non capite quanto vi devo entrambi. Non lo dimenticherò mai." I still didn't speak Italian, but she was grateful.

I passed her the bottle with a smile and gestured for her to drink, she'd surely taken some damage as well so she needed it.

And I don’t, since all I need to do is cut some limbs off and then Majik does the rest…speaking of.

I turned around and was painlessly gloop-slopped in the face by the sickly EXP shimmer crap from the corrupted.

Ugh there it is. Fucking gross..still, that's going to be another MAGN increase. I can already feel the hunger for food…and a shower..gods, there's not much I wouldn't do for a warm shower or bath..

A concerned trill sounded out as I saw Siya palming up some EXP but that wasn't what she was concerned about, we'd already confirmd that corrupted EXP only affected your own race, a bit like cannibalism..but I've got a gross EXP cannibalism licence..she hasn't though.

And her concern was because a trail of EXP had reached the woman who hadn't noticed.

It was too late to warn her, and she immediately jerked her head up as she realised.

"No! NO! Merda!" She looked at us as she started twitching and slightly convulsing.

In one swift motion, she carefully put the boy and her weapons down next to him, and started to back away.

"Per favore. PER FAVORE..Porta mio figlio in un posto sicuro. Non voglio fargli del male. So che siete brave persone." She put her hands together and begged, she had a very weird scary blank look with her glowing eyes darting about.

"Sono-UGHH-I AGH. Devi... AHH... scappare." Her body periodically convulsed like she was being electroshocked, and she started moving towards the edge of the road. There was at least a 20 meter drop to the floor so you didn't need to be a genius to figure out what she had planned.

"No I don't know what you are saying lady but you can’t give up just yet.." I muttered and Slipfolded behind her and grabbed her arm. She was about to fight back but froze as she got the message.

Share request sent for I NEC.

She whimpered in pain as her eyes teared up and she dropped to her knees, convulsing.

Accepted.

"I'm sorry for this, but you need to unlock the skill right away. Hope you have got enough spare change on you.." I patted her shoulder with a surge charge..yet it only stunned her.

Shhhhhit that felt extremely fucking uncool-

So I had to awkwardly Majik-taze her twice more before she mercifully closed her eyes.

We hurried away from the ongoing brawl both carrying an unconscious passenger and picked up our speed to a very fast pace, on the look out for another place to take shelter.

The extra weight felt like nothing, but out of curiosity and to kill the time, I observed my stamina actually going down slightly faster than normal. A minimal difference between 1% every 30 minutes unencumbered, to 2% every 30 minutes whilst carrying the sleeping woman.

Inhuman. But very much appreciated.

..

After a few hours we came across a huge warehouse that had a couple of sturdy looking shipping container office outbuildings and I was able to Slipfold into one via looking through the grated window.

Inside there were a bunch of rooms including a kitchen area and a recreation room. Both had sofas so I placed the woman in the rec room and put the draining cuffs on her, with Siya placing the boy in the kitchen. We closed both doors and then checked the rest of the place out to secure it better.

We ended up finding the keys for the rooms and the main entrance so we locked the kitchen and rec room for our safety, for obvious reasons.

Although I'm not really convinced the doors will do much if she turns.

She hadn't shown any signs of what I would expect to happen when you become corrupted, but for that exact reason it was hard to predict what to look for.

For all I know, you could be fine one minute then suddenly your teeth turn to razors and your nose falls off…only when she next wakes up will we know for certain.

Choosing an office room, we decided to take turns getting a couple of hours sleep each with Siya offering to stay up first..Yet after maybe 20 minutes when I'd just managed to drift off, a loud rapid banging could be heard and it sounded like it was emanating from the rec room.

Ughhhh crap. Time to see if she's herself or..not...Hope it's okay. Really not sure if we can take the kid with us but, let's just see.

I hopped up and nodded at Siya.

"Let's go."

The door was banging repeatedly as I approached and it sounded frantic.

Oh man..

I walked up to the door and knocked.

"Hello?" I called out.

The knocking stopped and we were smothered in silence.

Shit.

I heard some scraping and shuffling then more silence.

"E-english?" A muffled female voice finally responded.

Oh for fu-! She's okay!

"Hah! Yes! I'm unlocking the door!"

Opening the door she stood back holding her arm sheepishly, her eyes brightly glowing in the gloom. Her dark wavy hair was dishevelled and sticking to her face, making it appear as if she'd been hitting the gym hard.

"Howdy, oh you don't know how relieved I am you're okay-" I waved, pausing for insurance purposes.

Not that I would have refused..but looking after your boy would have been a fucking challenge.

"H-hallo." She bobbed her head with the classic 'yeah..not sure what you are saying so I'll just nod and smile'

And those cuffs are probably making you pretty anxious..

"Mhmm..Right, let me take those off." I gestured to the cuffs and she raised her hands.

"Grazie mille..Um..Bambino? Trion?" She seemed to relax was smiling hopefully as I approached and I assumed that meant something about her boy so I nodded and gestured to the next door.

"Your boy? Yes all okay, he's in there, come." We moved out and I caught the woman waving at Siya and smiling at her, which Siya returned a bit awkwardly.

The boy was sleeping, covered up with a big duffle coat that we'd found. She breathed out a sigh of relief and rushed over to thoroughly check on him, clearly torn between wanting to confirm he was no longer injured and wanting to let him sleep..

She's definitely his mother.

After a few moments she smiled a wide smile, stroked his hair and gave him a big kiss on his cheek. She stood up, came over to us all teary eyed and wrapped us both in a surprise hug.

Good thing I briefed Siya about greetings, such as hugs..

"Grazie a entrambi dal profondo del mio cuore. In verità, c'è ancora un bel po' di splendore in questo mondo e voi due siete le luci più brillanti nell'oscurità che abbia visto da molto tempo." She said something which sounded heartfelt and even though I didn't know what it was, it felt warm and good.

We did bloody good tonight. These kinds of things are important. Very important.

Even though I didn't hurt...or rather, kill anything that didn't have it coming, there was still the shitty feeling that came with snuffing out a life..

But tonight clears some of that up. My concience feels..cleansed. Cleaner.

...

OKAY. Even though we MIGHT have led those monsters to them, soTECHNICALLY we were just sorting out the mess we creaeted...buuut there's no way of knowing that.

So I'll just sweep it under the rug.

#Godu# Well done Siya, we’ve done a really good thing tonight.

I heard her quietly trill.

"Thanks for the hug but it's a shame we can't understand each other." I sighed.

Oh that's a good point, I need to share the-

"Tienimi la mano amico." She spoke reached out and clasped my hand.

Mya wants to share [Hand Speak]. Accept?

Accepted.

I experienced a brief headrush, like I'd stood up too quickly as knowledge of a basic universal sign language trickled into my thoughts.

She beamed and, using a few small gestures, communicated to me.

Mya: Hello. Name is M-y-a. I owe you and her. Everything. Thank you from heart.

Godu: Hello. Name is G-o-d-u. She, S-i-y-a. No worry. Happy you both safe. We should rest. Here I hope safe. Question. Need anything? Food?

We continued to sign, pausing briefly to share the skill with Siya after she asked if we were both still sane, as we'd gone silent and were just flapping hands at each other.

But we quickly settled down and even found a stash of instant soups and noodles which we gleefully heated up with some tea candles, although at that point I was ready to eat the noodles dry.

We ate ravenously in companionable silence and afterwards they took the kitchen area and we took the rec room with the two sofas and the ecstasy laying on the soft cushions made me sigh and grin widely, immense relief now we were finally able to rest.

With how exhausted I was, it took seconds before I was drooling, deep asleep.

…

..

.