Ep. 3 — Chapter 10: Survival in the Wild (1)

For how long had she been out? Lia groaned painfully and slowly picked herself up, leaning against the wall. Ahead, a hole right in the middle of the wall revealed the streets under the house, infested with creatures that she haven't seen before.

There was a cloth wrapped around her stomach and others in areas where she was wounded.

She looked around, scanning the place for any sign of her brother, Rayes. Her lips slowly moved, but no voice came out. Her throat was hoarse.

"…Ray." She tried to force herself to speak, but she was barely able to make a sound.

Light footsteps were heard approaching. Despite being in much pain, Lia tried to stand, readying herself for combat. She painfully backed into a corner near the large hole in the wall, considering that as her escape in case anything happens.

However, it was a small little creature that walked in with several woter bottles in his hand.

"You…?"

She never got to question about it since she was too caught up in this whole thing. But that thing's been with Rayes since he came back, wasn't he? It looked awfully a lot like the beings that she fought back in her house, before Rayes came back.

But it seemed to be…different. After all, it even helped her fight against the old grannies earlier.

Earlier…

When Lia looked back outside, she saw that the skies had gotten dark. A purplish colour with some hint of pink and orange all mixed together in the sky.

Honestly, had it not been for the situation they were in, she would've thought that it was a blessing to be able to see such magical sights. Especially because she had always loved looking at the skies and taking pictures of sunsets and stargazing.

Thinking back about it now, she hasn't been doing that for a bit.

The creature came forward and set down the bottled waters in front of Lia and passed her one. It certainly doesn't look human, but it seems to know what people would need.

Perhaps it was because it was once human before.

Lia took the water from him and started drinking thirstily, as if she haven't tastes water in years. The feeling of the refreshing liquid guzzling down her throat were blissful, replenishing the life that had been sucked out of her from the fight before.

She took a few seconds to calm down after chugging down the entire bottle before turning to look at the creature again,

"Thanks."

The creature nodded and almost seemed happy.

"What are you exactly?"

It tilted his head as if to ask her to clarify.

"You came…with my brother, right?" She asked and the creature nodded. "Why?"

Surprisingly, the creature took out her phone from his pockets and opened up a note and started typing. Maybe he really was once human before.

「 He saved me. 」

"How so?"

Tap tap tap. Tap tap, tap tap tap tap.

Lia was a bit taken aback by how fast he was typing. Even she, who was always on her phone, couldn't type as fast as that.

「 Papa saved me. I stay with Papa. 」

"Papa?"

「 Yes. 」

Lia thought it was funny that her brother was now a father of some sort. But there was still something she wanted to know. With a slight hesitation, she finally asked the creature,

"What are you? I mean, what happened to you?"

She tried hard to not mess up her words and tried to find the best words to describe him without being so negative. Or making him uncomfortable.

The creature realised this and started typing again.

「 Human. Before. 」

Lia was about to ask 'Then?', but refrained from doing so when she remembered what happened back at her house. Bodies that were bitten and scratched suddenly awakened as one of 'them'.

He kept typing. Lia raised an eyebrow in curiosity and waited. He seemed to be typing for a while.

「 Papa found me. Save me from bad. Give food and piggy. I love Papa. 」

There was a pause in the typing.

「 I leave Papa. Papa say. 」

Lia nodded in understanding and went back to a certain part of the sentece. She pointed at it and looked at the creature in confusion, "Give you piggy?"

He nodded.

Seeing her confused expression still, he got up and climbed on her back, careful in his movements to not hurt Lia badly, since she was already injured.

Unsurprisingly, he was light, so Lia had almost no problem carrying him.

'Ah, a piggyback ride.' Lia finally understood.

When he finally climbed off her back, Lia slowly stood up. The kid quickly coming to assist her. Lia was thankful, but wondered if that was his normal behaviour or that he had some other motive.

「 Papa say I watch Lia. 」

He typed down.

"You know my name?" Lia asked, a bit surprised. Maybe Rayes told him about it.

「 Papa say Lia. 」

Ah.

With the help of the little creature, Lia slowly made her way around the place. Aside from that one broken wall, there were other holes within the place. One even coming from the roof.

Somewhere in the house there was also a broken floor, leading down to the basement. The front door had been ripped off its hinges, and the stairs looked unsteady. Even if the kid could manage to quickly hop down, she doubted she could do it without it falling apart and burying her underneath.

There were purple fumes coming from the outside. When looking out the windows, Lia could see the entire street covered in the same smoke.

Perhaps, even the whole city.

Whenever they moved, the little creature would hop around excitedly, prompting Lia to keep going with the questions. Especially since it was quiet now.

"How old were you." 'Were.'

The kid held up his fingers. It was likely because of his somewhat distorted form, but Lia had to physically count with her hands to make the number.

Eleven.

At eleven years old, this child had to face something so tragic. Maybe there was a reason as to why he trusted so much in Rayes, the only person who thought to take him.

It wasn't much like the brother she knew.

Well, what would she know about her brother who had been gone for years. She didn't expect him to stay the same, but it was still a bit weird for her.

"Ray…he never called your name, huh?" Lia asked without much thought. "Do you have a name?"

「 Papa will. 」

"What?"

「 Papa give me name. 」

"So you don't have a name?"

He shook his head. Lia felt somewhat sorry, but she saw that the kid didn't look sad in the least. Rather, he looked happy. Like he was looking forward to getting a name instead of being sad about not having one.

Maybe that was the better way of thinking. Being optimistic at times isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it?

It can definitely help with bad thoughts.

Lia and the kid stayed at the upper floors of the building. Considering the quantity of the creatures outside, it was the safer option.

The creature came up to Lia and passed her the phone. She took it and saw the thing he has typed in.

「 Papa say. Send location. 」

Lia turned to the creature. "Send him our location?"

He nodded.

She quickly checked her messages and shared their location to Rayes. She was almost unconscious then, but she remembered him going alone as the kid carried her away.

Their final messages were there and she read through them.

It had been years since they've last seen each other. When she thought about it, she couldn't help by laugh. After he packed up and left the house, he came back the day when this…Hell…happened. And she followed him without much thought.

[Your physical state has recovered sufficiently: 87%.]

She was still a bit numb, but she could manage for the time being.

—

Main Quest: [Survival in the Wild]

Difficulty: ★★

Requirements: Survive in the city from the hordes of monsters until you reach a safezone.

Time Limit: —

Compensation: Safety, pending…

Upon Failure: Death

—

The was the current quest. She didn't know if Rayes was also in the city now, but it was safe to assume so. After all, he wouldn't be able to get to a safezone in five minutes.

Unless there were other ones except the tower.

Either way, she shouldn't be worrying about him now. After all, he knew more about this place more than her. For now, she should focus on getting to a safezone.

"Have you checked this place?" Lia asked the kid, and he shook his head. "Shit, I'm giving you a name. It's hard to call you, 'you' all of the time."

The kid shook his head.

"Temporary name. Your 'Papa' can name you later."

He frowned but reluctantly agreed. "Okay, Shorty, let's go."

The kid followed Lia as they both searched around the entire place. Unfortunately, Lia had lost her daggers, meaning that she won't be able to fight against those monsters outside.

They moved around the house sneakily to not alert the creatures crawling around right outside the house.

Judging from the way the entire area looked, they were most likely the only ones here. So if they were caught, who knows how many will start coming at them.

A large hole in the attic floor was right before them. Due to his small and agile body, the Minimi was able to easily jump over and climbed to it.

"Check in there. Look around for things."

He nodded and started looking around the entire place.

In the meantime, Lia checked her messages. Rayes still hasn't read her messages. Several minutes had passed like that.

Grrrr…

She turned to the kid who growled, hand gesturing at her that there was nothing.

"Then, the other side?" She suggested, pointing to the other side of the attic that he hadn't checked just yet.

However, the hole was much too big for him to parkour his way past like he did before. Lia searched around for something to assist him. "Damn it…"

She scanned the entire room, looking for something to give to the kid.

Other than a small ledge which she could hold on to, there was nothing else she could give the Minimi.

Lia bit her lips and turned to the kid above her, standing on planks that would break if she even tried to stand on it. The only person who could get there was him.

"I'll jump and hold myself up there. You climb on my

back and launch forward, like you did before."

The Minimi shook his head at her.

"Come on, damn it."

He was growling at her, making zombie-like noises. She couldn't understand what he was trying to say, but he was definitely protesting. "I'm doing it. You either climb on my back and get over there or I'll hang until I fall. And we both die."

The Minimi frowned at her, shaking his head. But when he looked around, there was nothing else for him to do.

Besides, he wasn't able to come back down from the way he came from.

There were planks. He quicklt ran over and picked up some and started placing them down, trying to create a bridge to connect the gap.

Lia had an uncertain look, seeing the unsteady structure of the bridge. "You're going to fall…"

The Minimi jumped up and down, trying to show off its lightness. Even so, Lia was still unsure.

"Even if a small tennis ball fall on that, it'll break

for sure…there's no way you're making that, Shorty."

The Minimi growled again. He quickly move back before springting forward at full speed. As soon as he reached the edge, he leapt off and bounced off the wall to reach the planks.

Crack!

The moment he landed on the planks, the entire bridge collapse, and he staggered about. He continued to run forward but eventually started falling with the planks.

"Damn it, I told you to not do it…!" Lia exclaimed as she leapt over the hole and grabbed onto the ledge, her free hand grabbing the kid's arm.

She watched the planks fall to the basement and broke apart.

It wasn't that high, and if she fell, she would definitely survive. However, she'd most likely break her legs. And from the noise, it'll alert the creatures outisde. She won't be fast enough to run from the monsters with broken legs.

The Minimi climbed her back, placing its foot on her shoulders. He looked down and Lia nodded.

"Hurry and grab it. Those bastards will be here soon."