CHAPTER 22: Back to the ruins.

Even after waiting another full day Theo showed no signs of infection, which was a positive thing. This meant that even if he still had to be careful outside, he wouldn't risk becoming a zombie any time soon.

He stretched his wings as he sat up in bed. Whenever he slept on his back, his wings would feel stiff after he woke up.

Once he got dressed, he crawled out of the window. It was still early in the morning. The air was icy cold, and the sun would rise a few hours later. If he were to walk through the building, he would probably wake Tim with opening the doors, and he thought that the child deserved the little sleep he got.

While he jumped out of the window from the second floor, he used his tail and wings to stay balanced. Luckily his legs were built in such a way that he wouldn't break anything if he fell from such a hight.

He walked through the silent camp. His feet were already starting to get wet from all the water drops on the grass. Though most of the cold grass had a thin layer of frozen dew covering them.

Every now and then he could hear people whisper in their tents. They were often discussing their duties or worries and complaining how they couldn't sleep.

Not that Theo cared much about what these people had to say to each other. It was simply hard to ignore the few voices in this silence.

Now that it was still so early in the morning, he had some time to practice flight without being disturbed by some humans. And since his wing had completely healed, he no longer had an excuse not to.

He came back to the open space with the stones.

His leathery wings casted a large dark shadow over the ground once he spread them. He took a deep breath and then tried to lift himself up again. He could feel the flow of air under the blue membrane of his wings as he pushed himself up. Only to crash into the ground again a few seconds later.

But these few seconds in the air gave him an idea. It would still take a few hours for the sun to rise.

He could easily climb over the wall. And with no humans behind him he could make it to the ruins in no time. If he just moved by using the trees none of the infected could get to him. He would look around in the ruins and then make it back to the camp. If he jumped from a tree and used his few seconds of staying in the air, he could make it back over the wall.

Still, he doubted his ability to go there on his own. But the only one that was really in danger was him. At least, as long as Johan stayed away from his parents.

All in all, it was risky. But apart from finding out more about himself, maybe there was something that could help with the infection. A cure perhaps, or something that would make humans immune as well.

Most people already thought that the infection came from the ruins anyways. And since he came from there, it shouldn't be as much of a taboo for him to go there as for humans. And if there was indeed something to hold off the infection, then his reason to go there was no longer purely selfish.

After checking for one last time if there was really no one around he started to climb the wall. His claws easily sunk into the wooden balks placed in every corner. When he eventually reached the top, he jumped off the small plateau placed there to prevent anything from climbing up from the outside.

Once he was outside, he couldn't help but think how extremely impulsive and stupid this idea was. But now it would just be a waste of his efforts to go back.

With inhuman agility he swiftly climbed one of the nearby trees. From there he made his way towards the ruins.

Every now and then a few infected looked or even climbed up. And one time one nearly grabbed Theo's foot. But most of the time he could locate them before they came close.

The closer he got the quieter the forest grew. Most creatures were chased away by the usually aggressive mutants that lived here. only some large animals like the bear he had fought earlier, dared to come here.

Then he stood in front of one of the numerous entrances. It was the first time he could remember that he came this close. The entrances resembled doors. Only they were translucent and from the way they were slightly opened, Theo could see that they opened sideways.

He twitched his ears. It was eerily quiet here. He was not used to barely hearing anything at all.

He stepped inside. It was dark, darker than it was outside right now. Yet he was able to see just fine most of the time. Somewhere in the distance there were a few flickering lights, making a clicking sound every time they turned on. The dense moist air made this scene even more overwhelming.

He found it hard to believe he came from here. His bright blue skin was always vibrant and stood out from his surroundings. He sort of expected to blend in with the environment he came from. But he couldn't be more wrong. Even here his appearance was a stark contrast to the surroundings.

He made his way through the hallway. On his side he saw the metal veins pumping hot liquid that his father had described.

He took the first corner and walked through yet another door. Here he was faced with a mostly empty room. Well, apart from the glass shards scattered all over the floor and the desks with black windows on top of them.

he touched one of these windows. They were smooth and cold.

Then it suddenly turned on with the same clicking sound as the lights.

In the window he now saw a humanoid with two intertwining spirals. There was writing all over the image. Theo only recognised these symbols from his father's notes.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to read it, he left it be and ventured trough the many hallways again.

After a long time, he smelled something. Something different than just the moist air in these ruins.

His heart nearly skipped a beat. Whatever was behind the next door smelled extremely similar to him.