Shaula walks away from the medic area into the apartment complex’s outdoor plaza. She walks into an area of the plaza that wasn’t fully visible from the entrance to the side street. In a normal situation, at least on Earth, there would have been lots of caution tape and cops around sectioning off the area from the view of those outside.
However, there wasn’t and Shaula sees firsthand something that people were not meant to see.
She sees the ground in front of her feet charred black and brown. She sees burnt flesh and blood marking the floor, giving a strong glimpse into the horror that happened here. She smells a strong stench, one that she recognizes: the remnants of fiery death.
Here, there is only one person at the scene wearing a mask, one that prevents him from breathing in dust or fumes. The man, perhaps a mortician by profession, is placing blankets over several bodies. However, they aren’t placed securely. Shaula sees the face of abomination in that moment.
She sees the wind moving across improperly secured cloth flaps. She sees the sight of fourth degree burns. Shaula sees a melted face. A blackened rib cage. The smell of the burnt skin doesn’t really matter to her, but the burnt hair… She starts breathing rapidly as she sees atrocity after atrocity.
The ones who are completely burnt are the easiest to see. It is the ones who are partially untouched that are the most unsightly corpses. There are those who have charred black holes in their bodies exposing their burnt inner organs to the dim sunset light, as if God chose at that moment to fit their very existence with polka dots.
Some of them look as if their bodies have been dipped in acid at various points. There are also ones that look as if they should be alive, but then a small fourth degree burn is visible right where their heart is, or on the back of their neck, or right at their liver…
They… did this? The Twin Moons? Why would they… attack humans? No one… No one deserves this. No one…
A sense of deep dread fills her heart as she realizes what Ajax must have seen. He should have called her out to help, but he didn’t. He saw this horror, the sight of people being turned into meat. It is as if he was put onto a battlefield as a new recruit and saw war and bloodshed for the first time.
He saw things that no one should see. It would be a miracle if his mind was still whole. This awful sight, one that nobody should bear witness to. A sight that would instantly turn a devout worshiper of a just God into a non-believer.
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Yet, why Ajax didn’t shout out for Shaula to come? Why didn’t he shout out at the top of his lungs for help, from anyone? Why didn’t he… Maybe he simply couldn’t.
Maybe… he was already too late to do anything. Where is he? Where did he go now? He’s been dealing with this by himself… I-I need to find him.
Shaula is filled with a sense of sorrow as she walks with purpose through the apartment complex plaza, surveying the damage. She tries to search for Ajax’s scent but only continues to smell burnt blood, skin, fat, muscle and bone coming from under the sheets.
The scent is not unfamiliar. She remembers the smell of her foster father and mother dying in the flames of her childhood home. By the time the authorities had come to identify the remains of her parents, they had taken her far away from the scene.
Even that scene couldn’t compare to this.
The smells make her want to weep, not just for herself but for Ajax. She can only think to herself that today is the day his mind dies. She prays she is wrong.
However, she hears something. In the apartment complex next to her, there is a lot of noise from people talking within their apartment units. On the first few floors, there is a lot of silence and only the sound of people speaking. She hears a woman who sounds quite emotional whispering into her arms.
Two heartbeats… She's holding someone. Her kid? Two more heartbeats close to her. Are they…
Shaula listens to the conversation between two other heartbeats. A man's voice that is unmistakable and on the brink of traumatic collapse…
Dzan? What are you doing here… Wait, he sounds ok for the most part. That's also Sigvor… She's there too? So they've been out here? Fuck, I hope they're ok, I hope they didn’t see any of this shit. I also smell…
Blood. As she extends her olfactory senses towards the building containing Dzan and Sigvor, she perceives a scent of fresh blood coming from it. It isn't strong from her current position so it must not be originating from the first floor itself, maybe the second floor or higher. Shaula wonders if Dzan and Sigvor are in need of assistance.
Her jaw clenches. She wants to go look for Ajax but these two might be in need of help. They might be able to offer assistance, at least until she can find Ajax’s current location.
Without needing to think about it too much, Shaula runs towards the building, putting her cloth mask on to cover her face. She reaches the apartment entrance and finds that it has been broken through. Shaula wonders if someone did this today, maybe to escape the firebombing, or if it's just a lingering problem that the building's maintenance hasn't fixed yet.
She enters the building and starts running upstairs.
She hones in on the scent of blood like a hound searching for a fox. She carefully examines the stairs for any traces of blood that might lead her in a particular direction. Without finding any trails she can only rely on her sense of smell as she climbs the stairs.
She reaches a stairwell door and smells a thick stench of blood and decay behind it. She prepares herself for what she might see.