Slowly the darkness around him faded and some light filled his vision. The various colors, people, and buildings surrounding him blended together as Jim saw a blur of the world around him. He had no idea where he was, only that he was moving.
Taking a moment to focus his gaze, the surroundings slowly regained their structure and Jim’s head cleared up. He sorted his thoughts. He remembered that he used his ability to kill the wolf and then…? Right, he defended everyone from Troy and his lackeys.
Looking over the shoulder of the person that was carrying him, Jim recognized him. Not believing his eyes, Jim muttered in disbelief, “Lukas?”
“Oh, Jim, you are awake.”
Hearing the voice, Lukas's image warped and distorted itself, turning into the shape of Max, who looked at Jim with a smile. “Did you say something?”
Startled by this illusion, Jim acted like nothing happened, “It’s nothing.” Jim was still giving himself some fault for the death of Lukas and his family. Thinking of Lukas, his thoughts drifted to Chirs and Clay, the two people that left them long ago. He was sure that they had to be dead by now. It was already unimaginably hard to survive in the city, not to mention the wildness. He never fully understood why they left on that day.
“Jim?” Hearing the voice, Jim turned his attention back to Max and replied, “Yeah?”
Taking a moment to sort his thoughts Max simply said, “Thank you.”
Confused, Jim asked, “For what?”
“For saving our lives, of course, the lives of everyone.” Looking around him Jim saw the other few survivors walking along them. They were all very grateful and not being used to being the center of attention Jim felt slightly embarrassed. He appreciated their gratitude but soon grew confused. There were hardly any people around him, that couldn’t be all. He recognized Dennis, Emma, Evelin, Max, Jake, Oliver, and Solaire who was carried by two people on a makeshift bed. Other than them he only saw another person he didn't recognize, which would mean that only a total of eleven people survived this catastrophe.
Not believing this Jim asked, “Is that everyone who survived?”
Hearing the question a pained sigh escaped Max's lips. “Yes, that's everyone.”
“We were almost a hundred in the beginning right?” Asked Jim with a hoarse voice.
Hesitating for a moment, Max eventually replied, “Yes.”
Upon hearing this, Jim felt as though the world around him was spinning. The realization that so many people had lost their lives… was just horrifying. Yet again dozens of people joined the lost souls in the afterlife, becoming a part of the ones that this catastrophe had already claimed.
About a month has passed since the beginning of this event and their city shrunk from a population of about fifteen thousand, down all the way to the hundreds. The few hundred people at the church were most likely the only big group of people remaining. There could be some more survivors in the villages surrounding Churchville, but it was unlikely, considering the wild animals had far better access to the villages than the city.
Thinking this Jim heard an old, raspy voice say, “We can thank the sun that we were even able to survive. It was truly a miracle and even if the price was heavy, the few of us survived.”
Thoughtfully nodding his head Jim said, “You are probably right. It just hoped to rescue a few more people. How are you doing? It seems like your ability has taken a toll on you.”
Solaire first laughed, before it turned into a fit of coughing and he reassured, “It's nothing serious I’m just a little tired. I used too much energy in one go that exhausted that old body of mine.”
“I hope so.” replied Jim with a frown before turning to Max and asking, “We are on our way back to the church?”
“Yes, I’m worried that something happened,” replied Solaire instead, “They didn’t send a single person looking for us, even after we were gone for days and this is not something Dave would do. Something must have happened.”
Afterward, the silent returned to their journey. They were all exhausted and injured in some way or another and the atmosphere was gloomy. Left alone with his thoughts Jim thought about Troy and his group. Five of them attacked them and he was able…
Thinking about this he only realized now that he killed another human; twice. His memory was still a little hazy, but he knew that he killed a boy in the heat of the fight. Trying to recall his appearance Jim slowly saw a blurry image in his head.
He wore a beanie that was almost unable to contain his thick brown curly hair, while a long black coat reached down to his ankles, and seemed to be even younger than Jim himself. He fought with a rapier and more than his appearance, did Jim remember his skill.
He was able to fight on the second rank on even footing with Jim. Jim was blinded but that didn’t really matter much, considering the sixth sense Jim possessed. He was confused about how such a boy ended up in a group full of psychopaths. He thought for a moment and remembered the name of the boy and brawny man; Ray and Bruno.
Troy seemed to have accumulated a rather fearsome force. This Ray possessed great skill and even if he didn’t witness the fight himself from Max’s recounting Jim knew that Bruno was a dangerous foe that had inhuman strength and stamina. He was still standing after a spear impaled him and his body was littered from top to bottom with wounds that would have killed any normal man.
The only one that wasn’t good was the person that attacked Jim at first. It was hard to recall his name but after a while, he remembered that Troy called him Hakan. He was immediately killed in one move and was not comparable to Ray or Bruno.
Thinking about killing a human Jim expected to feel something like guilt, but he didn’t. No matter how he thought about it he didn’t see anything wrong with his behavior. They attacked him first after all. Additionally, Jim felt it hard to associate the Jim in his memory - that fearlessly killed the wolf and humans - with the Jim that he was right now.
He had the memories of him doing all this, but it didn’t feel like he was the one doing it. It almost felt like watching someone close by doing it. Jim understood why the person did this, but drew a clear line between himself and that person, even though he and that person were not two separate people but both him.
Getting a headache from all this thinking Jim pushed the problem away for another time. Having rested long enough he got down from Max's shoulders, only to almost fall to the ground.
This time he resisted the aftereffect of his ability way better than before. Probably because he was this time around careful in comparison to the fight against the raven. His body was also not comparable to the past and a lot more durable.
Durable didn’t mean invulnerable and sliding on the ground with your bare legs wasn’t the smartest of ideas. Both of his legs were already bandaged by someone and he could still move them but with greater difficulty.
Seeing Jim inspecting his own legs Emma came over and said “I knew this would happen.” Turning over to the voice Jim saw Emma, with some simple crutches in her hand. “I asked Dennis to make some and he quickly made some simple crutches with the wood from the wall.”
Startled Jim couldn’t find the right words and just smiled. He took the crutches and said, “Thank you, both of you.”
Dennis gave a nod of approval, while Emma replied, “No problem. You saved our lives countless times, that is the least we could do. I just hope that you are more careful with that body of yours. If you continue like this you will die before you reach your twenties.”
“No worries,” replied Jim while scratching his head in embarrassment. “I’m fine.”
Hearing this Emma’s expression grew serious and she emphasized her statement, “Jim I’m serious you have to be more careful. If you can’t control this ability it will mean the end for you someday. It gives you great power, but also destroys your body and with the countless near-death experiences over the last month your luck will run out someday”
“I know,” replied Jim exhausted, “But what am I supposed to do? Not use this ability? Without it, I would be long-dead by now. I have to use this ability as long as I continue fighting and don't plan on stopping in the near future.”
Grabbing the crutches and leaning on them Jim turned to the few survivors around him and said, “Today we lost many people; friends, comrades, family, or just acquaintances…”
Giving a moment to digest his words Jim continued, “Whatever these people were for you they are gone now and we have to carry their memory, their sacrifice. I will go onwards, step after step. It doesn't matter what happens to the world, I will continue fighting against everything that tries to stop me from protecting those I care for. I will not force anyone to follow me on this path but everyone who dares can be guaranteed that I will try my best to protect their life like my own.”
It was a short and simple speech but helped them form a newfound bond. The group that previously broke apart and went on their own ways, returned on this day much stronger than ever and had the resolution to survive no matter what.
With this newfound determination, the group continued their journey and soon saw the walls of the church in the distance. To their surprise, the church was not only intact but multiple archers were standing on the wall keeping watch of the surroundings.
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Noticing their arrival, the people on the wall were in an uproar. They already feared that they may be all dead, they would need every help they could get and greeted them with open arms.
Opening the gates Dave and Charlotte were the first to greet them. Seeing the exhausted and battered-up group Dave came over and exclaimed, “By the sun what happened to you all! Where are the rest of the survivors? The city really is in pure chaos.”
Hearing the question the group grew obviously uncomfortable and the first to respond was Solaire, “They are dead. All sacrificed to the maws and claws of wolves or mutants. We will explain later, more important is what you mean by chaos?”
Startled by this revelation Dave replied, “What the hell is happening suddenly? It seems like we are struck by one catastrophe after the other." Thinking for a moment he added, "Follow me we should talk inside.”
Entering the room where Solaire told them the first time about the raven, Jim recalled yet again Lukas death. He wanted to forget this scene, where Lukas died before him, as he stood helplessly on the sideline. He wanted to but no matter how painful the memory was he won't allow himself to forget it.
He had to remember Lukas sacrifice, like all the other people they lost at the school. Even if it was hard he had to bear their sacrifice to always remind himself why he kept fighting.
Quickly regaining his composure Jim sat down on one of the chairs on the table and waited for the others to do the same. Shortly after everyone was seated and Jim turned his attention to Dave.
Solaire was the first to speak and asked, “Could you now please explain what happened in our absence?”
“Right,” taking a short breath to prepare himself, Dave began to explain, “It is not really a surprising situation, nonetheless troublesome. I don’t know what you faced at the school for almost everyone there to die, but I guess you too were troubled by a rank three mutant, right?”
Nodding his head Solaire answered, “Indeed, a Wolf with a pack of over three dozen wolves. They additionally used the mutants roaming the city to attack. We also fought against a group of humans that wanted to kill us. They lost the path of the light and are not able to be salvaged. Their leader is called Troy.”
“What in the-” Jim was shocked by this revelation and stopped himself from raising his voice. He took a moment to calm himself. He expected many things but this surpassed every theory he had, but after thinking over it he realized that it made sense. What else could have almost killed so many people, without a way to escape?
“I can’t imagine what hell you fought in, but I’m thankful that the sun protected his apostille and everyone else,” replied Dave after sorting his thoughts.
“Hahaha,” laughing Solaire replied, “Our survival was truly a miracle by the sun but…” patting Jim on the shoulder Solaire stated, “Another important role in our survival played Jim here. He put his life on the line for every single one of us. He was prepared to sacrifice everything and with a combination of luck, skill, and careful planning we were able to survive.”
Catching his breath for a moment Soalire asked, “What mutant did you face? Or did you also fight other humans?"
"I would rather like to know who this Troy is and why he tried to kill you," replied Dave with a frown. Even if mutants were fearsome in their strength and could lay ambushes, Dave was a lot warier of humans who were much more intelligent and cunning.
Sighing Solaire shook his head. "That is a long story we can talk about the details of our fight later, this new crisis holds more importance.”
“You are right,” replied Dave, turning serious, “Allow me to elaborate on why the city is in such chaos. The first two days after your departure we didn’t notice a big change and just hunted normally every mutant we saw. They were all of the first or second rank. With our superior numbers, tactics, and weapons we were able to hunt very successfully and many people in the church reached the second rank, while Charlotte and myself reached the third rank.”
“Yes after risking our lives countless times,” added Charlotte, who also attended this meeting. “Everything was looking good; too good. Just as we were about to go on yet another hunt everything changed from one night to the other. The city was practically swarmed by rank three mutants-”
Interrupting her Jake asked confused, “What do you mean with swarmed? About how many rank three mutants are we exactly talking about?”
Taking over the word Dave explained, “We saw about a dozen by now, fought three of them, and narrowly escaped each. There is currently a huge war going on in the north, where many mutants fight for territory. That side is a complete battlefield of chaos and carnage.
The East isn’t as bad but still hard to hunt in as rank three mutants are just too dangerous. We already lost some of our hunting members because of nothing more than a moment of carelessness. The south on the other hand is almost completely vacant of any beasts probably because of the wolf you fought.”
“What about the West?” Jim asked with worry. In the west lay his home and now that the situation with the wolves was resolved and Troy fended off for at least a few days Jim didn’t want to wait any longer. He had to know what happened to his family. He had to confirm their condition if they lived or were nothing but cold, rotting corpses.
Charlotte and Dave exchanged looks. It looked like Charlotte didn’t want to explain, making Jim even more uncomfortable and strengthening the worry for his family and their fate. Taking yet another sharp breath Dave distributed the thoughts of Jim.
“If the south is almost vacant, then the west is a wasteland. There must be something that lets most mutants avoid that region and we couldn’t yet go close enough, but it almost seemed like they would just suddenly die in a certain part of the city.
“Dave.” Turning utmost serious, Jim asked, “Do you want to say that my house is surrounded by a zone where everything just dies?”
“Calm down Jim, let me explain. We weren’t there but we suspect that something similar to poisonous gas surrounds that part of the city.”
“Yes of course the only region that is surrounded by some weird gas is my home,” putting his hands up in the air to underline his irony. Jim said mockingly, “Let me guess it is not normal gas but produced by some ability and you don't know its origins I assume?”
“Sigh… yeah something like that. It seems to be invisible to the naked eye and slowly expanding outwards. Its effects are not clear, we would need to go closer for more information which is, as you could guess, very dangerous in our current situation.”
Taking all of this information everyone was shocked and needed a moment to understand everything that was said. This was after all a threat to all of them. They didn’t know the source of the gas and it already covered a huge amount of the west and was still expanding.
After a moment of silence, Jim asked, “So you don’t know how lethal it is?”
Exhaling Dave felt troubled by Jim so he made it clear to not give him too much hope. “Jim I know what you are thinking but even with you being of the third rank I don’t think that you will survive long in that gas. Either your family fled or is dead. No one can survive in that part of the city and the countless corpses surrounding it are proof of that.”
Not giving up, Jim asked, “What about a gas mask?”
Thinking for a moment he said, “That could work but where do you find a working gas mask? You have to remember that many things were already destroyed in the chaos and the city is swarmed by mutants. Any form of battle would just cause more mutants to appear, drowning you in their numbers. Right now the only safe part of the city is the south.”
Hearing this Jim grew helpless. He had to see his house for himself. By now he was obsessed with finding the truth, even if this meant his own death. He needed to know what happened to his family to give his restless soul some peace.
Thinking about any possible salutation to the problem the others explained to Dave and Charlotte what happened to them and how they defended against the wolves and Troy. Jim’s thoughts were interrupted after Dave mentioned something interesting, “... so you guys were also attacked. These waves of mutants are really annoying.”
Confused Jim asked, “What do you mean with an attack? You told us that mutants were roaming in the north and east but you never mentioned an attack.”
“I didn’t?” Seeing everyone shake their heads Dave scratched his head in confusion. “Well… now you know. I already told you that the beasts were fighting for territory and our territory is in very high demand because of its favorable situation and mutants see in us humans a common enemy and often alley with each other-”
*DING, DONG*
Hearing the loud bells of the church sound from above Dave knew that another attack was coming and said, “What good timing. You can see for yourself.”
“Fine, let us see how many of them are attacking,” replied Jim with a frown. He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to fight for at least a day.
Following him on top of the wall of the church, Jim was greeted with an all too similar sight. Standing close to one another the beast fletched with their teeth and deep growls all too eager to rip the next thing apart they got between their claws.
There weren’t too many of them, about two dozen of the first rank and some few in the second, nothing overwhelming. Through all the fighting Jim unknowingly perceived such a number as normal, which was a big change compared to the first day, where a single mutant was life-threatening.
His body wasn’t in the best condition, but he would fight if he had to. Counting their numbers Dave just turned around and was about to go back when Evelin stopped him and asked, “Where are you going? Aren't we fighting?”
Smiling Dave answered, “There is no need to worry. This is not the first time they attacked us like this and my men know what they have to do but if you need insurance...” Turning to Charlotte he asked, “Could you please stay and support them? Call us if something unexpected happens.”
*sigh*
“Fine… It is always me who has to defend,” replied Charlotte mildly annoyed.
“I know, I know,” said Dave with a wave of his hand. “You are the ranger after all. Next time I will defend; I promise.”
With this, the defense was taken care of and the rest returned to the meeting room. Jim was a little curious about how the group of Dave fought but knew that the meeting held more importance. Such an attack was nothing new for the people at the church.
Entering the room Jim had finally made up his mind and standing he looked at everyone and said resolutely, “I know that this may be too much to ask of you and I will not force any of you to follow me, but I need to go to my house, poison or not. I will see how severe the poison is and how to overcome it. We need more information and to get them we have to go in person. I will go no matter what be with or without you.”
Standing up Jake looked at his best friend, “Jim, you don’t have to ask me. I will follow you no matter where you go. You risked your life more than once for me and I plan to repay the favor.”
Jim couldn’t even thank Jake before he heard another chair being pushed away as Soalire stood up, “My boy I can understand your decision. You are blessed by the sun and I will follow you to make sure you survive, hahaha.”
Dave followed and reassured, “We will probably have no problem with surviving another few days on our own. Your departure will also draw some of the attention away from us.”
Next, Emma stood up and said, “I will also follow you. I have to find out if this poison could be a potential threat to the few remaining survivors. If it can be transferred, how lethal it is, how fast it is expanding, how can we detect it; we need more information.”
Following her Evelin said, “If Emma is going I’m also going. I also have some knowledge on herbs that could help for a possible cure.”
Staying seated Dennis said with a cold demeanor. “I will remain behind and kill more mutants.”
Hearing all of this Jim couldn’t help himself from smiling and said, “I appreciate all of you helping me. We only need a small group to do some tests and will only take one or two days. Afterward, we will start clearing the city from every one of these mutants!”
A wave of approval came from the people in the room and Jim was sure that they would find a way to solve this poison problem and continue their survival. Step after step.