Maybe yelling my grievance out into the world in a monster-filled street wasn’t the best of ideas, as more of those demonic dogs came running towards the unfamiliar noise.

They were pitch black except for their white skull which was outside their head, apparently a trend in these times and seemed so impossibly thin that one couldn’t help but wonder where their organs were hiding inside.

But their speed at which they ran towards us changed my impression of them from half-starving dogs who were baked in coal to something which could actually pose a threat.

I forced my tired arms to lift my unsuitable axe for these sorts of things. I also saw Rudy grasping the air unconsciously for the pitchfork that was left behind.

‘I should probably cover him since he was unarmed’ was my initial thought and intentions but seeing him punch the dog to death while calmly dodging the other that was trying to bite his head off, removed that concern.

It was as if he was spiked with performance-enhancing drugs along with a relaxer.

I was not doing as well as Rudy, though. The hounds, although thinner than my arms, sported white long spikes for their so-called teeth and I was trying not to be bitten and bled to death after we just escaped from that sure-death situation.

I grabbed my bag packed with supplies from my back and held it in front of me as a shield. One of the mutts tried to jump on me, which I responded back by pushing my bag towards it, blocking it, and swinging the axe with all my body, using it as a bludgeoning weapon rather than a cutting one.

The other cheeky one saw the chance and took it by biting on to my hands that swung the axe. I screamed while punching its face repeatedly, but mine lacked the ‘oomph’ that Rudy had and only made the mutt bite down on my hands even harder.

I punctured its eyes with my fingers as I screamed more painfully. The stupid dog finally let go of my hands while whimpering. Which ended as I swung my axe downwards into its head.

Blood poured down from my hands into the ground. It was bleeding a lot more than I wished, but I ignored it for finishing them off. I hacked the head off the one which bit me and went to the other one, the one I knocked out at the beginning.

I looked towards Rudy while doing so; he had already killed all 3 of the mutts that went after him and didn’t suffer any injury, which was good but also raised another not-so-good feeling inside of me. I raised my axe above the lying dog’s head. It was whimpering feebly while lying down, looking into my eyes pleadingly. Which elicited some sympathy from me even though it just tried to kill me moments ago.

But I went through with it anyway and spilled its brain onto the pavement with my axe.

The same addicting feeling flowed through me after ending its life. But there was a revolting undertone about it as well.

Something revolting and nauseating about this whole thing.

Though I couldn’t pinpoint the cause of that feeling on whether it was the nature of the ‘something’ that flowed into me or if it was because we were getting pavloved into killing each other.

Heh, pavloved. Fitting. I chuckled a small laugh.

I looked at Rudy to see him looking at me strangely while I smirked as I looked at the corpses of the dogs. Yikes. He thinks I'm crazy now, doesn't he?

“Your hands bleeding a lot,“ said Rudy as he walked towards me, “Put some pressure on it. It's not safe to stay here, we can properly treat it when we reach our room. “

“Y-yeah, let's go.“ I spoke as I walked alongside him. I could already see the building from here, the sight of it, making me already feel at ease. Our pace unconsciously increased along with our vigilance. We didn’t want anything more to block our way from safety and rest.

We reached the building within a minute; it looked the same as before, which it should since we only left this morning even though it felt like days ago. We vigilantly walked inside, checking for anything out of the ordinary. Rudy also checking all the other rooms inside the building to make sure we were safe.

My gaze wandered into the back of the building, my body being magnetically attracted towards the bed in our room as it unintentionally walked towards it, towards the safe room.

Tension drained from my body as I opened the door and entered the familiar space.

I jumped into the mattress. Stress leaking from my body as my flesh and mind liquified into the soft bed.

But I saw the blood leaking from my arms into the mattress. I sighed and got the bag opened, getting the medical kits ready. Rudy came inside the room while his feet dragged behind him and plumped into his makeshift bed, just as I was doing so.

2 minutes later, my hand was clumsily but tightly covered with bandages, keeping the blood securely inside and where it should be. “Rudy, get up. You're gonna get an infection from all the injuries from those chickens you know.“

He grunted audibly from my words and stayed motionless for a few seconds, but then begrudgingly got up, and walked towards me lethargically.

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I flashed him a sympathetic smile and treated his wounds as well. The previous bandages I put were either loosened or completely torn off or filled with blood.

My heart pinged slightly with guilt when treating his face filled with scabbed scratches to torn flesh and ear. I then moved to the gash on his forehead, then his puncture wound in the back and arms, then the cuts in his arms.

It was hard to believe that the damaged body I was looking at was the one that could do all that. It also made me realize how badly he needed a rest right now and how dependent I was on him.

I would have definitely died in the mart if I had gone for gathering supplied alone like planned. Well, hopefully, we could keep our heads low for a few days. I looked at the bag filled with food and supplies. Though the original plan was to lie low until help comes, but after experiencing all that, I was extremely doubtful that would happen any soon.

The world as we know it has been irreversibly changed.

While I was patching him back into his Mummey look, his eyes were dropping into the ground and his body was falling asleep and catching itself.

Although I was going to ask him to apply some disinfectants on my back filled with scratches, I let him go, and he fell right into bed and into sleep in records time.

I smiled faintly seeing that, then my grin changed to a serious look.

I can’t depend on him like this.

I had refused his participation in gathering the supplies originally by sprouting bullshit like his powers could have been just adrenaline or that he was too injured to help. Although concern was a large reason for that, another deep part of me just wanted to not loose power over myself. Over my own situation and revert back.

I tried playing the role of a an adult over him, trying to act superior, to gain control over the desperate situation I found myself in.

Trying to do it on my own, without others salvation or help or indebt. Just like I always did before.

It’s already been twice that I’ve been saved by him now. I still can feel the claws grabbing me. Their sharp talons in the midst of breaking the membrane of my skin as they locked me down, marking my death in that pitch black coffin.

Not anymore....

I opened my palms as a new flame rose above it. My mind strained as it tried to focus through my muddled brain and my body wanted nothing more than to just fall into the bed and into oblivion.

If not for me.... Then at least so that he doesn't rush into an early death with me dragging him behind.

And so... although my body wanted nothing more than to just hit the bed and into a sleep coma, I forced my foggy brain to stay awake and kept practicing my newfound ability. We also couldn’t both be knocked out at the same time. Someone needed to be on the lookout for things.

----------------------------------------

"............Rudy"

Hgmmmm?

“Wake up, Rudy.”

I opened my eyes to see Lea calling me, to which I replied, “ehuughhgg?“

"Pfft" She spits out a laughter and spoke again. “Wake up Rudy, it’s already night. You need to have something to eat.”

I got up disoriented, my muscle aching at every movement. Lea passed me a hamburger in a plastic box while I was still dazed. “Eat up, we can only eat these for a day or two before they go bad, then it’s back to the cans. “

I stared at the cold hamburger, my stomach waking up quicker than my mind and making its hunger known to the world with a growl. I obliged and scarfed the cold burger down, which tasted like a delicacy to my hungry body.

I glanced at the stacks of hamburgers in plastic boxes and smiled. I was looking forward to eating that tomorrow.

I looked around the room, picking up the obvious changes to it. The walls were now covered with cardboard boxes and clothes.

“Did you change the room? “

“Mh? oh, yeah, I did that for soundproofing the room. I also got some clothes I found in the locker. You can change into it from your torn one”

I caught the shirt and sports pants she threw into me. “You know, you're going to die someday for wandering outside the room for no reason.“

“I'll be fineee,“ She spoke with an unnecessary exaggeration as she brushed it off.

I sighed and tried to get up, something which I stopped immediately after it ached in every single action.

Guess I can practice moving my aura if I can’t move my body. I sat down and focused inwards into my aura, trying to sharpen my view on the mysterious components inside of me. Something which I was rapidly getting better at. With the observable growth of my progress in display, my entire focus shifted, with not even a speck of attention given to the outside world.

And just like magic, time spurted wings and flew off in records speed as the next moment I opened my eyes, night had already come. Jesus, this might as well be a time machine. I thought as I laid my head on the bed.

The same routine was repeated the next day as well as there wasn't much an injured person could do when he was supposed to be resting. Waking up, practice moving and feeling my aura, getting called by Lea for food when I inevitably lose track of time, sleep and repeat the cycle the next day.

And before I knew it, the stacks of cold hamburgers were emptied and three whole days had already passed relatively peacefully without any monster intruding to talk about their lord and savior.

We also tried teaching each other our own tricks during this time. Lea tried to teach me to control the outer flow or ‘prana‘ which we now called and I tried to teach her to flare her aura artificially to invoke vitality. Both ended with unsatisfactory results, but I got better at moving my aura around my body, a feat that Lea could do easily.

Though I suspect that is some kind of advantage or perk she enjoys from her affinity like the way I could flare my aura and she couldn't but it wasn’t all wasted effort as well, my previous speed comparable that to a disabled snail improved to that of a normal healthy snail, but I still doubt I could use the prana like Lea did even if I get better as her in moving aura.

She made some stride in her magic as well, which, again, is what we decided to call it for now and could keep the flame floating above her hands far enough so that it doesn't burn her, but still couldn’t change the quantity or the size of the flame, no matter the effort.

I guess she couldn’t do much until she hit the bottleneck and go over it as I did.

Another pleasant surprise was that my body started healing a lot faster than we both thought. An injury that should have taken months to completely heal was on the track of getting healed in a week or so.

I woke up on the 4th day of our rest. My body, which was a horrible mess before, was less now so and I was finally able to move without grunting in pain. And now I was about to do something I was looking forward to for the past 3 days.

Previously, I was still hesitant in limit testing the boundaries and strengths of ‘vitality‘ but now I was at least confident and energetic enough that I wouldn’t pass out if I try.

I was about to walk towards the tool shop for picking up and replacing my lost weapon when Lea suddenly shouted in excitement. I looked towards her; she was keeping her palms facing slightly away from each other and excitedly staring between them.

I tilted my head and looked at her with a question mark.

“Look, try touching the space between my palms, “ She spoke excitedly as she came closer to me while keeping her palms in the same position as before.

I hesitantly moved my hand towards the area, and my eyes widened in surprise.

“Isn’t it cold! I tried changing the way I change prana. It took a lot of trial and error but see…maybe I can shoot ice or something someday" She said as she beamed.