Felix bolted out of the tent and ran on the road in the direction of the lights. They couldn't have gone that far. He continued to run but if he didn’t find any trace of them. Maybe It was better to climb one of the dunes at the sides of the road to have a better view of the surroundings.

Sadly, climbing dunes was something easier said than done, and these were even much taller than the ones he climbed in the first day. He pulled out his shoes because they were dragging him down to move faster, but he still felt that he lost too much time.

At the top, he craned his neck to see if he could find human shapes on the road. He used the Zoom option of the HUD system, but there wasn’t anything apart from the sand and a far endless grey strip in front of him. That must be the wall, but it wasn’t what he was looking for now.

If they went into hiding it’d be a problem. The HUD 2.0 could detect people up to ten miles, but this one could only detect source of noises directing towards him. If they hid in silence between one of the dunes, then there was nothing he could do. His only hope was that they took the road and left plenty of footprints for him to follow, but they weren’t that stupid.

He kicked the sand, “Damn!”. He had been outsmarted by two teenagers. Now there was a possible Demon on the loose, and if what the Keeper told him was true then it won’t be only his problem. His knees wobbled, and his heart’s rhythm wasn’t going to slow down. There was no way he could find them now without any traces or without them making absurd level of noise.

He descended from the dune from the shaded side and walked back toward the Keeper’s tent. He yawned. Maybe he’ll sleep a bit and he’ll move in the night. The lights weren’t much far, and it made him happy knowing that this desert had an end.

A howl rose in the air. Not again, for god’s sake, but maybe the wolves would make a better job of finding them rather than him. He ran toward the sounds on the other side of the road.

They were distant, but he followed the vibration waves of his HUD. The howls were followed by growls and thundering steps, becoming more louder and louder as he got nearer. He was acting like a fool, and there was no way he could save them from a pack of wolves.

He was moving under the dunes, still with his shoes laced around his shoulders to not waste time. The sound waves were rising, and the howling sounds now were starting to make him shudder.

After some whimpering sounds, the vibration lines became flat, and an eerie silence followed. This was strange, but maybe the wolves had completed their job and ran away; there was no other explanation. He fastened his pace.

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The last sound had come beyond a small sand ridge, and Felix climbed on it.

The corpses of many wolves were strewn on the blood-soaked sand.

“This can’t be”. Too late, again. He swallowed and put his shoes again to give a better look.

It was like a giant whip with spikes hit all of them, leaving deep and irregular gashes in their skin. His boot made a squishy sound as it stepped on an eyeball.

“Goddamn”, he said, trying to scrape it off with the sleeve of his suit. It wasn’t even the first time it happened. All of this was messed up. He picked up a detached jaw from the ground, full of sharp teeth, and then he threw it in the sand again. In war scenes like these were pretty normal. What it wasn’t was what killed all these wolves in such a little time. And he was sure it was the Demon who did all of this.

There was a pair of footsteps moving away from the scene, leaving a trail of blood. All of this must have happened at last ten minutes ago, so they weren’t far. But it was too late: there was no way he could kill him now. The old man was right: one day that thing will be able to kill an entire army.

He won’t pursue them anymore. It was too dangerous, and he didn’t know what to tell them. As long as he didn’t meet them, he was safe. He turned back and moved towards the road. He felt bad for Alice: she was just a young girl, or at least she was mentally, and she didn’t deserve all of this. But life was hardly fair. Neither he deserved to see everybody he cared about die, but after grieving, his life moved on, and so must hers.

The Keeper was waiting for him on the road, grinning.

“There’s nothing to smile about”, Felix said, “You wretched man”;

“Have you seen him?”, he said;

“A pack of wolves did, and that was the last thing they saw”;

“Wonderful”. He wanted to punch him in the face.

“What can I do now?”;

“Forget about him and reach the wall”, he said, “Not even an experienced adventurer has a chance, maybe if…”;

“If?”;

“You can find its weakness”, he giggled;

“I’ll keep it in mind”, he said, “But I won’t fight him”. Not now.

“Good choice”, he said, “I’m preparing dinner. Care to join?”.

After eating, Felix followed the Keeper in the desert as he went looking for unlucky people, wandering around the dunes. The old man was carrying a wooden sled, leaving a trail in the sand.

All that happened shouldn’t distract him from what was the main objective: reach civilization. The fact that mankind still existed surprised him. What happened to the enemy? Did humanity win? And How?

The Keeper stopped, “Looks like we found something”. Felix hurried past him to see what it was.

A boy with dark hair was lying on the ground with an arrow sticking from his throat. He was wearing the same suit of his Academy, but he didn’t know who he was, as too much time had passed, and they were of different units. He ducked and picked his dog tag, “Carlson, Martin H.”, he read.

“A perfect shot”, said the old man. It was one indeed, as there was very little blood around the wound.

He sighed. His troubles weren’t coming to an end.