Chapter 4: Friendly Reunion

Alya seemed to be relieved on seeing that I was okay. For someone as fatigued as I was, having no trace of wounds was something unthinkable. Either way, small pieces of the beasts' meat were on my body, and also, their 'blood' was near my mouth. That definitely made it a strange scenario for her, and for me as well. Evidences of my strange behavior were now on my whole body, and yet, she didn't say a thing about it, even though her surprise was notable. Nevertheless, I decided to take a seat, while she was staring at me carefully, analyzing how I could be okay after facing such brute beasts.

''So, how did it go?'', she asked that with a notable curious tone

''I created a wall of flames, so it will be harder for the beasts to follow us'', since I wasn't fatigued anymore, I could have a conversation easily, ''If we're lucky not to make any noise, they won't find us anytime soon. We must go now''

After getting up, I started to carry her once again. By following her instructions, we made our way through the buildings, without being noticed. It wasn't an easy path, truly. Knowing that any brick could fall down and alert them once again made me even more careful of what could happen if they found us again. Humanoids and wolves aren't that strong, but if any other kind of beast found us, we would probably become their dinner. Luckily, after a while, we finally found a way out of the city, so we could go to the mountains. Just when we thought that we could make it safely to the base, Alya started coughing.

''Are you okay?'', unfortunately, stopping was not an option, since her noises could call attention easily if we remained still

''Yes, it's just the smoke in the air...'', even though the smoke was really an issue, we could also assume that the presumed infection had struck her, ''If I had another mask, I wouldn't be coughing as much''

Now that was disappointing. The mask I took from the military base was pointless anyway, so I just threw it away in the sewers. Even if I managed to fix it, we wouldn't have enough time, and for that's a fact, I didn't have any materials. All that we could do was to keep moving, hoping that the beasts wouldn't get us. Fortunately, we finally managed to find some bright lights, which indicated our approach to the base. When I looked towards Alya, her expression demonstrated that from her point of view, she was already hopeless to go home. The sand ground and all the cactus acted like indicators, that we were now on desolate lands, instead of being in the urbanized zone of the city.

''Finally, we arrived...'', Alya couldn't contain her happiness on seeing the base

''I just hope that they'll be polite with me...'', as for me, I was just tense about what their initial reaction could be like

''Don't worry!'', her tone was now filled with motivation, ''If they try to hurt you, I'll tell them about how you saved me''

Was it worthy to trust her? Even though she didn't do anything during the whole trip, she could just lie to them and get me trapped once again, or worse. Just in case, I had to keep her nearby, even after reaching the base. If she ended up lying, I could take her as a hostage to make my way out safely. My main objective was now not to low my guard, and if in case of required last resort, I had to make my way out of the base as soon as possible. Furthermore, even after being accepted inside the base, lowering my guard was not an option anyway. At the first opportunity, they might ambush me, and it could be the end.

Either way, we finally arrived at the base, and as soon as the spotlights aimed at us, some soldiers came towards us. At the same moment they saw me carrying Alya, they lowered their weapons, and a woman with black hair came towards us. Her uniform clearly indicated a higher position in the hierarchy from that base, so as soon as she did a single command, all the soldiers put their guns away. So much authority emanated from her, as if all the soldiers were merely her subordinates or servants.

''Glad to see you again, Alya'', the woman kindly spoke, in a formal tone, ''And I see you brought a survivor, huh?''

''I am lucky to have been found by him!'', her reply was filled with some rather odd enthusiasm, but still, I decided not to lower my guard, ''He fought some beasts on his own, even after being exhausted! And he also managed to carry me over the whole time''

''Is that so?'', her tone was now demonstrating her surprise, ''I assume that I am impressed''

''By the way, captain...'', Alya's tone partially demonstrated her anguish, ''My mask broke in the middle of the operation, and Haru was not wearing a mask, as well...''

Right, and to think that I was foolish enough to forget about that. It was better than my rather pessimists predictions from earlier. Of course, just like I had done earlier, I wouldn't let them have a single drop of my blood. Maybe a sample from some mucus of my body, such as the one in my mouth, could suffice. However, meeting the captain right away wasn't expected, so I must assume that I was surprised from the moment I noticed her different clothes.

''It's fine, don't worry'', her smile was sort of too formal, as if she wanted to keep her authority at all costs, ''Hopefully, this time wasn't enough to infect you both, so you can just spend some time at quarantine. Just to make sure, though, we'll have to test you''

''Alright then'', surprisingly, she answered quickly, as if my attempt to convince her was a successful one, ''Is that okay for you, Haru?''

As I promised, I would spend time with her, if necessary. If quarantine was everything between me and getting some allies, I wouldn't go back. Without hesitation, I agreed, still not mentioning about the blood sample. The captain escorted us inside, as the others followed us inside, as well. Finally, I was glad to have found some friendly people, at least for now.