Headed towards the beacon, and the streets remain quiet. Sometimes I think I’d prefer the hoards over the silence. The silence just feels as if something is lurking slightly beyond the morning fog. We could have waited until the sun had risen completely, but Marshall insisted we get an early start. Crossing a city in a day wouldn’t be impossible, even with Niko’s burned leg. But having to hide behind corners and constantly change our route to avoid contact with the grubs takes a lot of time. Still, it’s necessary. I know there’s at least four groups other groups out there, three of which are similar to gangs. There’s the group I heard about over the radio, the ones occupying the school. There’s the group that was controlling the university campus that Enda was working at. The group of savage bankers Thore comes from and the group that was ransacking the hospital before Aaimina found it. Any of them could be lurking behind the next corner and I would never see them coming. Sometimes I find myself acting more like Marshall, holding my gun, prepared to fire. The safety has been turned off since the grub slammed itself into the glass.

“I remember when this used to be a shopping district,” Thore is the first to speak on this morning’s outing. “High class stuff from across the galaxy. My partners loved it.”

“Partners,” Niko seems surprised.

“Love is cursed by monogamy, you’ll understand one day my young friend,” Thore responds.

“I’m just surprised you were a fan of high fashion,” Aaimina laughs.

“Not me, my partners,” Thore reminds us.

“We were really building something special here,” Aaimina sounds dejected. “We were growing so fast, we really built an entire city here. We were ready to expand to another location on the planet. Now, it’s all gone. It’s as if we were never here.”

“No, we were here. We’re still here,” Thore places a hand on her shoulder. I’m a little jealous of how easily he moves around her. “We can beat this thing. Find a cure or kill every one of those damned creatures. We will rebuild. We can never bring back those lives that were lost, but we can build new lives,” Thore almost sounds philosophical as he speaks.

Still Niko and Aaimina hold onto his every word. Marshall shares a knowing glance with me. At first, I assume he’s just silently making fun of Thore’s logic. We all know this doesn’t have a pretty ending, but Thore is forever an optimist. Instead I switch my focus to our surroundings.

Ignoring the conversation around me, it becomes obvious. I don’t need to be as skilled as Marshall to notice. Someone is following us. More than one person. I can hear their footsteps. Ours are generally pretty in sync. These other footsteps are rushed and hurried, then silent. Every so often a shadow will pass over us, a shadow that doesn’t mimic any clouds or passing debris. Now that I know someone is watching us, I can’t help but try to look for them. I purposely fall to the end of the line. Marshall is free to lead them, spot whatever is coming up ahead. I’m searching for what’s behind us.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Knowing I’m being watched and not being able to see the person is nerve wrecking. My first thought is Calista and her group, but they would have made themselves known by now. Calista loves the attention and would have tried to pick a fight about us going in the same direction. Whoever they are, I’m certain there’s more than one of them. Two, maybe three, the heaviest of the footsteps is following us. Whoever it is, they aren’t trained for this. If so, they would be aware of their heavy footsteps.

Marshall sends me a text message from his wrist comp to mine. We’re going to make a play for it. As we reach a four-way intersection, I rush through an alleyway. I know I can run into a grub, but I’m more likely to run into our pursuer. Marshall called, it I catch my pursuer off guard. A man, average height, somewhat heavyset. He knocks over some crates to slow me down. After making my way through the crates I follow him around a bend. He’s got stamina, but he’s not very fast. If we keep going at this pace it’ll take a while for me to catch him, but I don’t need to catch him. He rounds the corner and is clotheslined by Marshall. The man drops to the ground, but before he can run Thore is standing over him. The giant will make any fight or flight response. Marshall points his gun at the man, demanding answers on why he’s following us. The man reaches for his own gun, I’m sure Marshall spots it, but I’m quick enough to drop a knee onto his chest. Getting a good look a his plump, red and sweaty face he’s panicked. This isn’t ending how he expected.

“Stop, please stop,” A short petite woman calls out.

“Daddy,” a small child, holding her hand calls out.

I take the man’s small handgun as my new sidearm for the moment being. We allow him to stand and join his family. They’re all hugs and kisses, but I don’t trust the situation. Thore explains to Niko and Aaimina as they catch up to us.

“Why were you following us,” Marshall asks coldly.

“My family,” the man starts still anxious and out of breath. “My family, we thought you all could lead us to some sort of shelter.”

“Wrong answer,” Marshall places a hand on his gun.

“We’ve been out here so long, we weren’t sure if we could trust you. So many people out here are criminals,” the woman starts. “We didn’t mean to scare you. We promise we didn’t have any ill intentions,” she keeps pleading.

Their daughter starts to shriek, the mother covers her mouth. It’s too late, some nearby grubs have heard her already. Marshall and I quickly take out the three that reach us first. We start to move in a hurry, not worried about the family following us, searching for a place we can duck into and hide before more catch up. Thore kicks open the door to what looks to be a fast food restaurant. I start to close the door on the family but Aaimina waves them in. We’re forced to quickly barricade the door, a practice becoming all too common for us. Niko hobbles around trying to activate the security system as we take up positions to shoot. Against my better judgement, I give the man his gun back. If we need to shoot, I want all the guns I can aimed at the creatures.