Chapter 7: Mysterious Stranger

Four days had passed since the goal of a million people had been reached in the Boundary. Things had changed over the last few days quite a lot. While there were far less people than before the Boundary had become significantly more dangerous. Many large groups of people had banded together and began actively hunting down others to reach the target goals ahead of time so not being in a group had become significantly more disadvantageous. Asher and Sarah were fully aware of their disadvantage against larger groups of people so they continued their routine of sneaking around and avoiding conflict if possible for a while, ransacking houses for food and any other supplies they may need as they did. They had managed to mostly avoid conflict with anyone but were forced to kill several more people, thankfully though they had managed to emerge mostly unscathed from these encounters with Sarah and Asher sneakily making quick work of those that posed a threat. 

Asher was not quite as confident in his survival ability as Sarah seemed to be but he had adapted quickly to the changing situation in the Boundary. Neither Asher or Sarah were physically imposing, relying mainly on stealth to deal with others if need be they had been doing surprisingly well for themselves but they knew when the larger groups began to form that they would have to change their strategy. They could not escape them forever and so they had made a risky decision to hide where they figured most others would avoid, the massive area of the Boundary that was shrouded in darkness after the first night. Sarah had suggested it and while Asher was terrified they would come across whatever had caused the deaths of the eight million people the first night they had not as of yet. Sarah had been right very few people dared to enter this massive area allowing Asher and Sarah to avoid people all together. They had not travelled too far into the dead zone, as they had begun calling it ,out of fear and so found a suitable house that they believed was as suitable a hideout as any. This gave Asher time to rest and recover from his injuries he had suffered from their first fight and some of the minor ones he had received in the subsequent ones so he was feeling much better. 

Asher had begun paying great attention to the veil as well as the numbers in the sky and had learned some interesting things. At first he had thought that the population goal would drop by around half each day due to the initial drop from two million to one million people but that was not the case. It was more random than he expected with some days only requiring the population to drop by about seventy thousand and then another day being by three hundred thousand. The population currently was at just over four hundred thousand and the goal had been met several hours before the timer would run out. It was still shocking to him that so many people could die in such a short span of time but each day he became more and more numb to it. He had also noticed one more thing that concerned him. The veil that surrounded the Boundary had been steadily moving inwards, encircling the remaining people and forcing them closer together. Thinking about it Asher thought it made sense, the Boundary was a large place if people had the entire area to run and hide from each other it would be impossible to meet the population quota each day. 

While he had learned a bit about what was happening in here he still had no idea why it was happening, or what was happening outside it? He wondered if this was only happening in the Boundary or was it also happening in all the other districts as well as Elpis itself. Were they all suffering the same fate? Asher did not know the answer, not that knowing the answer would make any difference, they still had to survive their current situation which seemed to become less and less likely each day as the population continued to drop rapidly. Sighing he sat up from a chair and went to go look for Sarah.

Sarah was on the roof of their hideout which they had used as a place to scout around for others. Hearing Asher climbing up the ladder they had placed out back to get up to the roof she laughed. 

"What's so funny?" Asher asked as he reached the top of the roof, walking towards where she was. 

"Oh nothing I was just wondering when you'd stop ruminating down there." She said jokingly, smiling at him as she did. 

Asher smiled back before sarcastically responding "Well it's not like I have anyone intelligent around to discuss these things with." 

Sarah exaggeratedly gasped. "I'll have you know I'm much more smarter than you." She said even more sarcastically than usual. 

They both laughed out loud abandoning their usual caution of staying quiet. They felt relatively safe out here despite the horrifying scenery that surrounded them. 

The streets all around them were littered with bodies, too many to count. Many of them, similar to the boy Asher had seen after the first night, had clawed their own eyes out as if they would rather be blind than see whatever it was that had descended upon them. Many others seemingly committed suicide strangling themselves, slitting their own throats and a variety of other ghastly ways. Although the sight of this was harrowing as far as Asher was concerned it was better than being hunted down constantly. However to Asher and Sarahs distaste the veil was closing in on them more and more and by tomorrow it would have pretty much been upon them. 

Asher did not fancy letting the veil reach them as he was not sure where they would end up if they went through it, for all they knew it could teleport them directly into a crowd of people ready to kill them without question. He also did not even know whether or not he and Sarah would be brought to the same place so they both decided it was best to leave and venture back inwards. 

"I'm heading down now to gather up our supplies before we leave, you keep watch while I do." Sarah said as she turned back and walked towards the ladder. Asher gave her the thumbs up and she climbed down leaving him to keep watch.

Asher felt quite anxious about heading back inwards now that so many people were part of larger groups but they didn't really have much choice. Sighing he stayed up top keeping watch for another while until Sarah called him down as she had packed all their supplies into two rucksacks. Asher climbed down and grabbed his rucksack from Sarah and they both exited the house and began walking out of the dead zone. They walked for a few minutes with nothing happening, both of them making sure not to drop their guard but then coming out of a side alley on their right they saw a young woman limping. 

This woman was almost inhumanely beautiful. She had short raven black hair, her eyes were an enthralling green. Her skin was as white as the snow that fell around them and as smooth as marble, however unlike those living in the Boundary whose pale skin looked unhealthy hers was supple and had a healthy glow. Her skin was so perfect she strongly resembled a porcelain doll. She looked to be in her early twenties and was wearing a dark green jacket and loose fitting black combat pants. Asher had never before seen anyone this beautiful, he hadn't even thought it possible. Taken aback for a moment by the sight of her he was slow to react to her but Sarah was pulling out a knife from her back pocket readying herself for a fight. Seeing this Asher snapped back to reality and followed suit taking out a crowbar from his rucksack, not taking his eyes off the woman as she approached. The young woman took another step before stopping and glancing up at them, her beautiful eyes locking onto Asher's. Now that he paid closer attention to her Asher noticed that her leg was bleeding. Just as he noticed this she swayed forward slightly and collapsed onto the ground into a small pile of snow. 

Asher and Sarah both glanced at each other unsure of what to do but after a few seconds passed they nodded to each other and approached the woman. They got to her and Sarah bent down and turned the woman over. Up close she looked ethereal, with even Sarah being captivated by her beauty for a second. 

Goddamnit brain! Stop making me gawk at her face! Well maybe just for a few more seconds… 

"Is she alive?" Asher asked. 

"Yeah she is still breathing. Seems like she just lost consciousness from blood loss." Sarah replied. "Wait a second, what is that?" Sarah said, sounding surprised. She gestured to the girl's neck which had a beautiful black and gold pendant on it. 

Asher kneeled down beside her and inspected the pendant. It was the pendant of Venus. Seeing this, Asher's mouth fell agape in awe. The pendant the woman wore was only worn by those who were part of the Elpis family.