37

Entering the Ruined City

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The car ride was dominated by silence, the Northeast entrance they were driving towards was destroyed as well. A jungle, a swamp, and occupation by monsters, the sights they saw reminded them that humanity was at war, and not a single person in this car believed humanity was winning.

Veleda’s hands were shaking as she held Alduin and Hati, her quivering voice whispered to Alduin, “What should we do?” Uncertainty painted her face. “Should we…?” Yet she didn’t dare ask this question.

“No,” Alduin replied, “We need to find out what’s going on.” He tried to ease her worries, but his thoughts continuously replayed the sight of the jungle and the swamp. The magnitude of their presence completely dwarfed the confidence he originally felt.

His eyes stared through the car’s front window as he felt the weight of his responsibility increase. ‘We need to get stronger.’ His tension was being burned away by a slumbering conviction. ‘…I need to get stronger.’ The beating of his heart seemed to increase in strength as he prepared himself for what was to come.

The road forward continued past the Northeast entrance into the city until they finally reached the furthest point from the highway. It was at the furthest point North that something entered their sights, and Leon, who was the first to notice this change, shouted with joy, “I see people!”

Their sense of defeat was washed away by excitement. “Where?” Alduin immediately tried finding them as well, and then he noticed. “They’re the military?”

“Are we saved?” Veleda asked with a hopeful voice. Their hope that the government had things under control, momentarily overwhelmed them.

But as Ise drove closer to the city, reality once more settled in. Broken buildings had crumbled on the streets, tanks had left marks on a red painted ground. And groups of people could be seen in the distance, surrounded by units of soldiers.

From the lines of broken cars to the countless white cloths cluttering empty fields, not a single detail showed optimism.

The car stopped driving as a couple of these soldiers walked closer with their rifles held close. Their surprised faces and beaten look showed how severe the situation actually was.

“Who are you, where did you come from?” An older soldier immediately started questioning them as the others surrounded the car.

“We came from the south,” Ise replied as she handed over their passports. “What happened here?”

But the soldiers didn’t respond, no, they were inspecting the car they drove here with. The old soldier spoke up once again, “Leave your vehicle, this area is under martial law.”

All four of them immediately started frowning, but from the looks of these surrounding soldiers, they didn’t seem to have a choice.

“Give back our passports,” Ise’s voice had turned cold. Her eyes turned a shade darker as she watched the soldiers gripping their rifles.

“Leave your vehicle,” The soldier repeated, “Follow our commands or be detained!” Worry and desperation painted this man’s face as he raised his voice.

But Ise wasn’t one to be intimidated, not by regular humans at least. Pulling up the handbrake and switching into high gear, her foot pushed down as hard as she could.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” Another soldier yelled out, his rifle pointed toward the car.

Yet before anything happened, a small explosion rang out and smoke started escaping from the hood of the car.

“Get out of the car, now!” The old soldier pointed his rifle forward as a small unit of soldiers surrounded them.

But Ise turned around with a smile on her face. “Sorry, Alduin,” She laughingly said, “But we made it.”

Alduin stared around him as his hand gripped a long-clothed object. “For now let’s follow their commands,” Alduin whispered as he opened the door.

His eyes were sharp as he observed the soldiers chaotically surrounding the hood of the car. From their actions, they seemed to be conscious of their superiors as they snuck glances at the camp they came from. Alduin frowned as he thought, ‘They’re desperate, what happened here?’

Four people had grabbed their belongings out of the car, but they all closely observed the soldiers. Alduin finally broke their silence as he said in a panicking voice, “We’re here for help, we are looking for our family. Please help us!”

“Silence!” The moment Alduin’s voice rang out, the soldiers surrounding them lost all interest. No, their frowns and scowls betrayed the emotion they actually felt at the arrival of more survivors.

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“Can we get our passports back?” Ise spoke to the old soldier.

Gripping his weapon he wanted to make a move, but from the looks of it, he was still submissive to the watchful eyes of his superior. The old man stared with eyes full of venom as he threw the four passports on the ground. “Head for the camp and register yourself.”

Four people and a growling pup stared at the soldiers that left them behind, not a single ounce of interest was shown to them the moment they burned through their engine.

“Sorry, Alduin,” Ise apologized once more as she looked at the smoking car.

“It’s alright, this way we can make sure we don’t miss anything.” Alduin smiled back as they finished their preparations. Large backpacks and multiple cloth-covered objects were pulled from the trunk before they started walking toward the army camp.

***

Thick winter boots stepped through the sludge of mud as four people made their way through crowds of people. Warm breaths formed clouds of mist as the collection of a multitude of voices faded in the winter air. Yet the four people were utterly silent, every step they took was heavier than the one before.

Nightfall was approaching and crowds were lining up in front of military tents. Lines of people, of every age, had gathered in submission before the collection of soldiers.

“One ration per person!” The shout was always the same, each complaint was drowned out with force only to be followed by the cry for help.

Three weeks, it had only been three weeks and civilization was teetering on the precipice of defeat.

The buildings furthest North were all occupied by survivors, not a single person approached the center of the city. Everything in their immediate surroundings had been looted, but the most telling was the soldier’s oppressiveness.

Leon had just returned with his ration, but all four of them thought the same thing. Compared to this, their ruined home felt like a paradise.

“Alduin,” Veleda asked the young man next to her, yet no reply was heard.

“Alduin.” She nudged closer, both her hands holding him tightly. “We’ll find them, they might have evacuated already.”

Alduin’s hardened face looked at Veleda. His mind had been raging with a multitude of possibilities. “I…” His voice tried to sound gentle but he had trouble hiding his worry. “I hope so.”

His hands gripped his bowl tighter, searching for warmth to comfort him, but the food inside had already cooled down. The rations in their hands weren’t comparable at all to what their family was eating.

“Let’s go look for our room,” Ise said with a quiet voice after returning with several sheets of paper. Their registration had already finished and they had received the status of refugees. It was clear that this was the lowest possible status in this camp, yet one perk this had was a single room for their group in a house the army had claimed.

“Volunteers needed! Answer the draft if you want more rations!” Another soldier sounded as they moved through the dust-ridden streets. A large notice board stood at a couple of intersections.

They had already passed several of these noticeboards, and by now, they had found out what was going on in this camp. Alduin looked towards the South, his family home was located somewhere near the outskirts of the city, but it had already been an entire week since the last survivor escaped from that place.

***

“That name is not included in the registry,” A cold voice replied.

“What does that mean?” Alduin asked back with a frown.

“They aren’t on the list of survivors in this camp,” The army clerk said with annoyance.

“How is that possible? They live in this city!” Alduin couldn’t help but raise his voice, anxiety overwhelmed him.

“I have other things to take care of, neither Alessia nor Egan are on the list of survivors in this camp, either they already left for our main base or they are on the list of the deceased,” The clerk ruthlessly said, not a single person here cared about sugarcoating the truth. The situation had become dire, only a fraction of the people in this city had survived.

“Can you contact that main base? How far away is it from here?” Alduin tried his best to find more information, but each question was answered by a ruthless remark.

“Listen, kid.” Anger washed over the clerk’s face. “We’re isolated. We’re overwhelmed with hundreds of people like you. If you want to know more then wait until the next group heads out North, and tag along. But you’ll have to earn your place for that.”

Alduin frowned and thought, ‘Even the military is isolated?’ he couldn’t fathom the current situation even after everything he experienced. His voice trembled as he asked, “You can’t contact them?”

“No.” A voice of pure rage growled back. “Now leave, head to the office next door to find out if they’re on the list of deceased.”

“Wait,” Alduin asked in a hurry, “What do you mean ‘earn your keep’? When are they leaving?”

A glint shone in the eyes of the army clerk, and his voice turned softer as he replied, “Become a volunteer, you’ll get larger rations as well, the next group leaves in a week.”

Anger surged through Alduin’s body as he remembered the hurdles he needed to jump through just to receive information. He waited in several lines, only to be met with the same response he had already received. But if there was one thing that eased his worry ever so slightly, it was that his brother and sister-in-law weren’t on a single list the army had made, not even the list of deceased.

His eyes stared at the small room he sat in. It was a room that used to belong to a kid. From the wallpaper to the bed frame, everything surrounding him gave him an uncomfortable feeling. But his eyes focused on the three people surrounding him.

Veleda, Leon, and Ise, all three of them sat in a meditative position. Everything they had uncovered about the flow of energy in their bodies was shared, and slowly but surely, their first steps of increasing their strengths had begun.

‘There’s no time to wait,’ Alduin thought as he pulled a black gemstone from his backpack. His hand patted the small pup laying in his lap as he stared at the announcement paper in his hand for the last time.

‘Volunteer soldiers?’ His eyes glinted. ‘South.’ His thoughts finally came under his control. ‘If they can’t find out, then-’ The sparks that burned his anxiety finally awakened his slumbering conviction- ‘I’ll head there myself.’ His hand gripped the piece of paper as a current of electricity coursed through his body.

Once more, with closed eyes, Alduin faced the small tree in his subconscious. It grew day by day, the crystallized bolt of thunder had slowly turned from a sprouting sapling into a small tree, ready to grow its branches.

The night had fallen, and just like cycles of day and night, so did the energy inside his body move with rhythm through a growing pathway.