The city was nothing short of a ruin, the bombing raid could’ve happened while they were asleep and it would’ve looked the same, rubble was everywhere, once busy roads had deep multi-man sized craters and unnaturally violent yet contained flames littered the scene. “This is the apocalypse…” was all Rin could gasp as each step through the dark narrow streets they were forced to traverse got more and more treacherous, one wrong step and you could snap your ankle or worse, leaving you stranded in a nightmare. As much as they tried to avoid looking at the macabre scenery they still had to look at their feet and sometimes what looked like bodies or even worse, parts of bodies would appear, each time they had to avoid one the already grim march got a little bit more so.

Having walked a good third of a kilometer, the journey went as smoothly as they could ask, “Ryusei, how much do we have left?”, asked Souta in a tired tone as he sat down on a rock to catch his breath “Approximately three and a half hours”, answered Ryusei in a distant tone as he was addressing the reason they stopped, namely the fact that the only way forward was an open area, once a parking lot, now a potential killing ground. The trio was hiding in the shadows of a half collapsed building, while it provided minimal assurance in terms of structural safety, it was useful cover.

Up until now they were moving in the unseen, avoiding any open space and now they were staring down unfamiliar territory, Rin was scanning the area and quietly mumbling to herself while Ryusei was looking for any sign of enemies. Not a moving soul, human or otherwise was visible, a deafening silence consuming everyone’s thoughts, the only outlier being the occasional beam of sunlight that managed to pierce the dust clouds. “Shit!”, Ryusei mumbled to himself “We have to move, now! If the sun comes up proper we’ll be even more exposed than we already are!”. Rin, not too pleased at the idea glared daggers at him “Are you insane?!, let’s keep looking to make sure there are no abominations around!”. All the while Souta couldn’t help but feel like a spectator to the bickering of his two closest friends, should this have been an argument over school or kendo, he would’ve laughed. Ryusei seemed dead set on making the run as soon as possible while Rin was understandably scared of doing so, Souta could see where they’re both coming from and even though he leaned more towards the side of safety himself, he decided not to intervene, letting them settle their dispute was the fastest way to a solution. Ryusei was taken aback, unable to understand how Rin could not see it the way he does, hiding and wasting time means certain death and with the sun coming while the dust is settling their chances of actually making it diminish, he had to act and there was only one way, lead by example. “Souta, pass me an energy drink.”, this left Rin bewildered as to his intentions, up until now they were arguing as to how to proceed and now he suddenly got tired? Souta, similarly taken aback couldn’t help it but abide by his friend's request. Can in hand, Ryusei quickly downed the contents, got up and looked at his friends “If I make it to the other side you two are following me!”. With these words he turned around and started running through the parking lot, it couldn’t have been more than a hundred meters wide but the debris and craters made it more difficult, slowing Ryusei down significantly. The two who were left behind couldn’t keep their jaws from dropping to the floor at their friend's stupidity “That idiot is trying to get himself and us killed or what?!” is all Rin could hiss as her eyes were locked on Ryusei who was flying through the parking lot towards what was hopefully a safe clutter of buildings. His body felt light, his movements precise and form balanced, somehow Ryusei was feeling on top of the world and one short jump later over what looked like a foot deep hole in the concrete, Ryusei finally arrived to safety, no sounds or movements in sight, just his heart pounding from the effort. He could not help but think to himself how someone who barely slept four hours just did that, as a matter of fact, both Souta and Rin were unusually lively as well “There must be something else in play…”, he thought to himself but quickly pushed it out of his mind, it was time to revel in his small victory and the emergency internet would allow him to do just that, pulling out his phone he sent a sticker of an anime character taunting his opponents in the group chat with his friends. Rin was squeezing the phone so hard the whites of her knuckles were visible and when Souta tried to calm her down all he got as a reply is what Ryusei had coming to him once she got her hands on him. “He’d better wish they get him before I do, that cocky bastard has something else coming!”. Souta seeing it’s now safe to pass decided to lean into Rin’s anger, convincing her that the sooner she gets to Ryusei the better it’ll be and with a hurt sense of pride driving her, Rin’s lean body danced between debris, pothole and everything in between. Although Souta was not out of shape by any stretch of the imagination, keeping up with Rin was a tall order he did not meet, lagging behind her, in the end both making it to where a seemingly calm Ryusei was waiting for them. “You guys made it, come on, we don’t have time to spare, there’s still quite a bit to go.”, his greeting came in a calm yet hasty tone while Rin’s response was nothing but that “You could’ve gotten us all killed!” lunging to strike him in the side of the head with her fist, pure anger on her face. Seeing the attack coming, Ryusei grabbed her hand and quickly immobilized her by pinning her to a nearby wall, his hands firmly keeping hers still as he leaned close to her face “Staying hidden solves nothing!”. Rin was even angrier than before, letting a flurry of kicks in her target’s direction, none of them finding their mark, by the time she got her leg in the air Ryusei had already retreated. Anger changed to disbelief, he was always sharp but that reaction time was nothing short of superhuman coupled with his change in attitude caused a knot to tie in the stomach of the recently fiery Rin. Souta was surprised as well, exclaiming “That must’ve been one hell of an energy drink I gave you!”, Ryusei couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yeah, must’ve been.” then look at Rin who was still in shock and issue an apology “I…I’m sorry if I went too hard but I genuinely believe that this is the only way we have to survive, you’re free to beat me to a pulp after we’re safe”, as he was saying that his face slowly turned red and couldn’t look at her straight anymore. This unusually emotional expression from Ryusei made Rin feel warmth wash over her, she had known him for years on end and while he rarely shows it, he’s awfully soft on the inside. This was the same Ryusei she grew up with and with that she decided to give him a piece of something he’s familiar with as well “I’ll be holding you to that once you get us out of here! But for now, I’m sorry as well, let’s make sure we get out of here”. Souta who was sitting in the corner sipping on one of those “miracle” energy drinks he gave to Ryusei wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed in relief “You two should keep the newlyweds routine till after we’re safe…”, with that remark, Rin was back to her usual self “You wanna die so bad?! That can be arranged big guy, no otherworldly monsters needed, just mention me marrying that bastard over there one more time and see what happens!”. Ryusei, initially put on the spot just as much as Rin by Souta’s remark, now saw an opportunity to rally the group and get a bit of a jab at her “You want to say I’m not marriage material, you hurt me Rin…, On a more serious note, if we have time to joke around we should move, the bombing raid is only three hours away!” With the grim reminder that the area will be getting leveled soon, the three decided to resume their march towards the cinema.

The next stage of their journey took them through a complex of residential blocks, buildings that once stood tall, housing tens if not thousands of people now reduced to nothing but barren towers, their shattered glass littering the way akin to a minefield. The narrow streets were deadly gambits, each corner they took was accompanied by anxiety and fear, knowing that death or worse could be on the other side. The dust was slowly giving way to sunrays of ever increasing strength, on any normal day this would be a reason for joy, now though it’s but a grim reminder not only that time is running out but that the darkness that gave them solace is fading. They were making progress, slow and steady wins the race after all, and if the opponent is death, taking risks is ill advised. At about the halfway point by Ryusei’s judgements at least a strange cracking sound started to echo through the air, the group froze in their tracks, terror, visible on all of their faces as they scanned the area only to notice that a building on their left was releasing a cloud of dust as it was slowly leaning towards another, the dominos are about to fall. “SHIT!” was all Rin could let out before Ryusei grabbed both her and Souta by the hand and started running with them in tow “We need to get to the edge of the neighborhood as fast as possible or we’re gonna be buried alive!”. The other two coming to their senses after the realization that death was once again in reach of them shook themselves free from Ryusei and started running alongside him “You don’t plan on leaving us behind again, do you?”, shot Souta with a death defiant grin, Ryusei’s reply being in kind “Not if you can’t keep up I don’t!” as he sprinted over a short clearing, vaulting over a pile of rubble that was once a fence and swung from a bent lamp post into a perfect landing. Rin, more surprised than pissed off, got closer to Souta “Keep an eye on him, I’m barely keeping myself upright and I can see you’re not much better yourself, those movements are insane… no few hours of sleep or energy drinks will do that.” Souta himself was no idiot, he found Ryusei’s explosion of strength suspect as well but he gave it the interpretation of his own tired mind, now that someone else was seeing it as well assured him of the fact that he was still sane. Brushing that aside, Souta gave Rin a silent nod, they still had to get out of this mess, with each subsequent collapse or crumbling the chain destruction seemed to head in another direction to that of their running and as they approached the end of the neighborhood they stopped and took stock of the situation.

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Ryusei checked the time, one and a half hours until the bombing raid, they got through the residential complex faster than he’d expected, this gave them leeway but by no means did it give them time to slack. As he ordered his thoughts he heard panting and a thud, looking back he saw Rin, hands on the knees breathing heavily and Souta sitting with his back leaning against a raised block of concrete, head tilted skywards heaving. Ryusei was a bit surprised, to him the run felt normal but before he even got a word out to ask if they were fine Souta in between heavy breaths let out “Ryu-ugh-Ryusei, slow down a bit, for God’s sake, what’s gotten into you, last time I checked you weren’t a top athlete”. Confused, Ryusei considered his actions, to him it felt normal, mind and body were in sync when he ran, his mind ran at lightning speeds, both in and out of motion while in retrospect he felt fast it also felt rather effortless, this contrast between his condition and his friends exhausted states caused an eerie feeling to bubble inside but he pushed it down, they still weren’t safe. The last obstacle between them and the cinema was a stretch of road that led into the entertainment district, where the cinema was located, having seen the bombing map Ryusei remembered that a few other buildings were also not marked for destruction, meaning that at least a few dozen people survived.

From their position at the edge of what was once a very populated neighborhood they could see the path forward but there stood an impossible challenge, illuminated by the now properly risen sun a red skinned, horned and hooven abomination stood tall, clutching an axe in each hand, scanning the perimeter. “Shit!” was all Rin could let out, “Wh-what do we do?”, the whimper came from Souta who lost all the color in his face upon seeing the monster while Ryusei looked at it with unbridled hate and killer intent “We can’t kill it, can we?”, he spat out, venom tainting each word as it came out. Rin turned at him, fury and fear burning one another in her eyes “Are you insane?! You might’ve gotten a bit faster but you’re still no match for that thing, look at what they did to the city!”, sighing he had come to the same conclusion as well “Guess you’re right, we’ll have to get past it, I’ve got a plan, listen up.”. With all eyes on him Ryusei arranged a miniature version of the stretch of road in front of them, marking out three key piles of debris that they’d need to move between in record time “The plan’s simple, Rin throws a rock as far as she can in the opposite direction, bastard gets distracted and we make a run for the next key point, rinse and repeat until we’re past, the runs are gonna be quite tight but not impossible. Once we’re near the safe perimeter we should be able to see some people and maybe they can help.”. Each of them knew that the plan was nothing short of suicide but so was staying back and getting bombed and when they thought about it, so was them moving all the way here, they’d been riding the edge all this time, so what’s one more? With a grim determination, Rin picked up a rock that looked like it’d fly decently well and aimed, she wasn’t aiming at the monster, not even in what she thought it was it’s field of vision but instead to the opposite direction of their next safe point. With unnatural accuracy and technique the pebble found its mark and accomplished the mission, the monster mover to check it out and the trio ran their hearts out for about a hundred meters, ducking behind the designated debris pile. “I can’t believe it worked!” exclaimed Souta in an enthusiastic yet scared whisper “Great throw Rin, I hope there’s more where that came from, we’re gonna need it”. The creature was now facing the opposite direction of where the group was and of their next destination, so with a silent nod they decided to make a run for it without any throw “One more, I think I can see people!” Souta was right, at the edge of the road stood two people, silhouettes too small making it unclear to discern any detail but none the less human. In the meantime the monster had turned around, scanning the perimeter again, seemingly looking for something…or someone “Shit!, do you think it heard us?!” Rin let out as a hurried whisper. Silent in contemplation Ryusei was considering their options, they could go for Rin throwing again but if the stone gets seen as coming from their location they’re doomed, they could wait and hope it gets bored before everything gets bombed to hell and back, or they could make an insane run for it. None of the options were particularly good and while the bombing raid was still quite a ways away, the monster could check their spot at any moment “Rin, try luring him to our first hiding spot, this is gonna let us make a run out of its line of sight.”. Contemplating Rin was judging both distance and angle, the throw would need to be pin point accurate “On my mark, we start running!” she let out in a hushed but determined tone as she let the second pebble fly. When it was about halfway to its destination she gave the command and the group sprang, as they did the sound of shattering glass echoed behind them and in no time the pieces fell into place, the monster was inspecting their first hiding spot while they were closer to safety than ever. “Bold move to aim for some glass, what was your plan had you missed?” asked Ryusei in a monotone voice “Then it would’ve been a fifty-fifty on us making it or not, you like those as well odds, don’t you?” she smirked as the words were leaving her lips. Knowing he’d been outwitted, Ryusei asked Souta if he still saw people there, the answer to which was positive, now their forms were easier to make out and it appeared as they were holding guns, defending the small alleway that led to the cinema and some other adjacent buildings marked as safe on the map. “...about 200-250 meters” whispered Ryusei under his breath “Speaking of odds, what are the odds we make it if we set off now you guys? That thing is still busy turning rubble into fine powder and we might just be able to do it!”. Enticed by the idea of safety and seeing people with actual weapons Souta and Rin were quick to agree this time seeing as their enemy was for all intents and purposes, fully distracted. Each of them burst out of the hiding spot with an impressive speed, jumping and vaulting over debris and holes in the road as they made their way to what they perceived as salvation. From behind an inhuman sound was heard, anger, pure unadulterated rage emanating from every decibel and then it happened, as he looked back, Ryusei could see an axe flying towards him, but between his neck and it was Rin’s, so in a desperate last ditch effort to save, her, he broke his run and pulled her into his arms, both of them falling on his back, the axe barely missing her scalp “RUN SOUTAAAAAAA, ALERT THEM, HURRY!”. The monster was running towards them full throttle, a disheveled Rin and a panicking Ryusei scrambled to their feet and as they prepared to regain momentum only one of them managed to run again as Ryusei was lifted by the neck “G…o, ugh” is all he managed to let out and Rin with the look of sheer terror on her face ran and didn’t look back. Souta had already made it to the guards and between catching his breath he told them of what was going on and they rushed to the scene only to run into Rin, tears streaking on her face “My-my friend, help him, please” was all she could let out before sobbing completely overtook her.

Tears clouded his vision and breathing was harder each time he exhaled, kicking, flailing and even biting got him no closer to freedom as the abomination was staring at him, a contorted sense of pleasure was palpable on its face.