305. Wilde Jagd, 7

(Myls)

I play at making the handgun spin on my finger for a few seconds, before sliding it back into the holster along my leg.

My mindless rose watches me doing so, without anything showing up onto her face. She looks dead inside.

Behind us is an old barn.

Inside is lying the corpse of another rose, covered with blood as she had to vomit everything that was usually in her veins.

It's the fourth rose to die somehow like that.

- You think it's a disease?

M - I think it's a murder.

I can sense it, almost smell it. There's a very faint smell of a monster lingering around. I think something is targeting the roses left behind.

Between the one who left, the ones who died from natural causes, the ones whom killed themselves and the one now murdered, there aren't many left to live with us.

A large dozen of sisters, and my rose.

She looks sad or absent minded most of the time. I thought she could have been the killer, but she's not carrying either the scent of blood nor this faint one of a monster.

Zeslinry is missing too, and that preoccupies me far more than their fate.

She should have returned two days ago.

I'm growing nervous.

The remaining roses live like sisters and are mostly cheerful. It's nice for them. Mine is depressed all the time and pisses me off.

Zeslinry told me so before she left for that expedition. We had an argument. She told me I was acting like a spoiled child.

Z - Don't let your intelligence and your maturity rot into pride and selfishness. Please Myls.

She kissed me goodbye and left me with this murky feeling.

Something remained wrong with me since I recovered these roses.

Or rather, since I claimed this one mine.

M - ... I'm sorry for what I've done to you.

- It doesn't matter anymore.

M - I won't call you mine anymore. You're free to go.

- Okay.

There is no emotion in her answers.

- What will you do about this?

M - Let's burry her. Then I'm going to look for Zes. I'm worried about her.

- Okay.

We proceed. Another rose returns to the earth. These roses suffered such strange fate.

I don't like them anymore. They're like toys or pets to my eyes and I've had enough of them.

I know it makes Zeslinry sad, but my desires are very low on morality.

I didn't mind saving them, helping them. But I think I was happier before they arrived.

We had a nice place Zeslinry and I. The occasional visit of the other Rose was enough.

What I really wanted was to travel, when I was younger.

Now I wish...

I sigh. Zeslinry is not answering my radio calls. Something is wrong.

Maybe another rose gone mad.

I wish... I were...

~

I checked my two handguns and then mounted my motorcycle.

I leave the roses behind in what is now their estate more than mine. It smells too much like them in the house. I'm fed up with it. I needed some air.

I roll north west. I cross a few hills and follow a series of old roads. It's a slow progression because of all the wrecks and obstacles. I dream of infinite empty and clean roads to ride on. I also dream of infinite fuel for my bike then.

Neither will ever happen in this land.

I know in which city Zes is gone.

I have a really bad feeling about why she hasn't returned.

We all knew it would happen someday. Death is random. I've had nightmares, real nightmares, of me losing Zes to a monster.

I remember crying, screaming to the world as she died in my arms. And waking up in tears, heart painful. I've had this nightmare for years now.

A chapter of my life I know there's a fifty percent chance will happen someday. I hate it.

If I'm not the one to die first she will, just like that. And I will have to start a new life without her. I hate it!

I'm annoyed. Unhappy. Spoiled child.

I'm about as much of an adult I can be now. Strong and smart enough to just be, and live on my own.

But I remain unhappy and prone to nightmares.

Lust for rose was like a drug. It was fun, but it didn't help anything.

It did not make me more of an adult to have sex. It just made me even more unhappy that it didn't change anything.

Following my desires was pointless. I hate it.

I reach the outskirts of the city at nightfall. I've been here before, but I obviously didn't explore everything. Just exploring thoroughly one of these tall buildings would take me at least a week.

I try the radio. Still no reply.

Zeslinry came here looking for supplies, and never made it back.

I grab one of my handguns, check it, and enter the city getting really dark.

~

I found the truck. Empty and cold. She didn't load any supply inside.

Her camping kit. Her equipment. All is gone.

Now that is weird, because that would have been a heavy load to carry away from the vehicle. Where would she go like that?

I climb a tower blind as night has set. I go slowly, carefully, silently.

I melt into the night because I know what kind of nocturnal animals have woken up.

Under the sky, I scrutinise the city, looking for light. Looking for heat.

I Have this weird scope flashlight I found in a tank once.

It's a voluminous scope for a rifle, with mat solar panels on top of it, which power some functions like flashlight and thermal vision.

I use the thermal enhancement obviously, sliding gradually the visible spectrum. This thing can even see through walls sometimes.

I look around. I see many heat blobs, a little everywhere. Animals of various sizes.

And in another building across the city scape, what looks like a fire.

My naked eyes can't see it, but the scope sure does see the ball of warmer air around this place.

I'm not waiting for dawn. I'm going.

~

I have an amazing sense of orientation. I honed it over the years.

I can tell which way is north at any time, anywhere, just by smelling the outside air.

And I can find my way in the dark without a worry. I still hold my weapon tightly in hand, in case something jumps at me.

Nothing does thankfully, as I jog through the empty and dark streets.

What are you doing up there Zeslinry? Were you cornered by a monster? Or did you fall through a floor and can't move anymore?

Or are you helping a tired rose living in there?

I climb slowly the building as dawn is less than an hour away.

There is a weird waft. The smell of an animal I do not recognise?

It's still faint.

I reach the floor where the warmth is.

I notice some voluminous beast rummaging inside the corridor. A bear I think? It must have cornered Zes...

I hear moans in the distance. I recognise Zeslinry's voice. My pupils react to it, I can feel a surge of adrenalin released in my blood. I don't think.

M - Zes! Where are you?

Z - No!

She screams in terror, and my blood changes. I hear other sounds.

The bear is charging me.

I shot four bullets at it in maybe less than a second, making the air shriek and the beast collapse. I'm already jumping above its body to head inside.

Something else jumps suddenly at me from another room. It hurts my right arm before I could shoot it, but I don't drop the weapon.

I'm being thrown and pushed against a wall so violently that it breaks and fall behind. I'm pushed down over the rubbles before I could stand up, my right arm locked on the ground. It's a large room where the light of a fire is blinding me.

My left hand had the time to reflexively pick my other handgun.

I'm shooting the belly of the beast from a touching point, multiple times. I can feel the burn from the gun hurting me.

Still in a daze, I push the beast over and stand up, pointing my two guns toward Zeslinry just there. I don't understand why my instinct is making me do so right away.

Zeslinry's looking awful, naked and tied to some old metallic frame.

She's looking at me, horrified. Behind her is a human face, holding a gun at her.

My jaw drops agape as I realise what I've done.

The man twitched. I shot three bullets in his head and hand. Zeslinry screamed.

I'm reloading my weapons mechanically, completely shocked, unable to process the emotion of what just happened.

Maybe twenty seconds ago, I was calling her. It's still more adrenalin than oxygen that my blood is carrying to my brain. I feel dizzy and like I'm about to collapse, as if I had forgotten how to breathe.

I untie Zeslinry. She looks away and covers her lady parts but can't stand up. Her prosthetic leg is missing. It's gone.

She holds onto me as we go out of here without a word.

After going down a few floors, she just passes out and falls. I'm not strong enough to carry her, so I drag her body into a corner and hide there with her.

I can't sleep. My brain is stuck on loop over these maybe twenty seconds of sheer panic.

As dawn comes, I hear gurgling noises finishing to vanish from somewhere upstairs.

Around noon, I end up collapsing, still holding Zes.

~

In the middle of the afternoon, we wake up, feeling extremely tired and sore. My head hurts.

We share the clothes I have. Zeslinry keeps sobbing and acting weird.

She holds onto me again and we leave.

M - This was... the first survivors we saw in years. I thought... they were monsters.

Z - ...

Zeslinry takes her time before talking, but her voice is clear. She holds onto me to walk on her only foot.

Z - They were monsters... And you saved me from a bitter end.

M - I couldn't let my nightmare become real...

Z - You are my hero, Myls...

I let myself start to sob.

Something growing heavy is overflowing now.

Zeslinry is more than my best friend, or anything I tried to have with the other rose.

M - You're my only family...

Zeslinry has a sad but kind smile at my anxious loneliness.

She kind of hugs me gently.

Z - I know...

I feel heavy inside.

For now, we're slowly returning home.

~