Refuge

The loud sounds of banging and crashing stopped after a few minutes, and the buzzing of the drones faded away as well, concluding the pursuit. Artur and Stell are still lying on the ground, sweat running down their body as their breathing slows down progressively, they don't say a word, simply taking in the moment of peace they finally reached after an extremely eventful experience.

"We should get going", says Stell, finally controlling her breath, slowly getting up. Artur does the same but before he can respond, he puts his hand on his chest, feeling a slight pain, like something was stabbing his chest. "That fall left you with some broken bones, you probably didn't feel it at first because of the adrenaline" she explains, helping him stand up, carefully, looking for other injuries at the same time.

"I'll get you something to feel better when we get to the refuge, try to not move your chest much while you walk, you might pierce one of your organs with your rib" says Stell, still holding Artur by the shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, i can walk, but... your hand, we need to get something for that" says Artur pointing at her bleeding arm, trying to hide his pain, feeling like he's already much of a burden to her. "I'll find something when we get to the refuge, I definitely wasn't planning to invite you but I can't let you leave without doing anything with your wounds" says Stell with a sigh, annoyed. "What you did there was definitely a risk, I thought that was it for me. The least I can do is help you back." she says in a more gentle tone. "I wasn't the only one, if it weren't for you, those drones would have shred me to pieces. You didn't have to do that for me so... Thank you" says Artur genuinely. "Yeah if I knew all that would happen after I pulled you out of that tree, I would have thought twice before saving you. In the end I am glad we were able to get out of there alive" she says, relieved. "Alright, follow me, the path ahead is safe" she says holding her bleeding arm firmly to stop the blood from spilling.

Artur agrees and follows Stell through the sewers which are comparable to a maze with all different pipes and paths you can explore, most of the lights are faded and too somber to show the path, Stell takes out her lamp out of her belt and shows the path forward, multiple small rodents and insect crawl around noticing the light, with each step, the sound of thick, polluted water alerts the rats of the humans presence.

Stell confidently guides Artur through the different pipes and drainage tunnels, he knows that she already walked this path countless times and trusts her, he wanted to finally be able to join a place of safety and maybe even rest.

After half an hour of slow roaming through this maze, Artur notices a door, with warm light behind it. It was a hand made door, built with differents planks and scrap, seemed solid enough to stop a person from entering.

"This is it?" says Artur, still holding his broken rib, "Yeah, this place is safe, but don't relax too much, I'm still keeping an eye on you" warns Stell, giving a glance at Artur, "You might have helped me there, I won't give you my trust so quickly" she continues, with a cold tone. Artur stays silent, he still feels some tension with Stell but understands her concern, he too isn't totally aware of her intentions. She approaches the door and knocks in a distinct pattern, resembling a rhythm of music, "Probably a code" thought Artur. Behind the door, sounds of rushing closes in, a metal lock clicks before the door opens.

Stell steps through giving a sign for Artur to enter as well, as he enters the room, still holding his chest, he looks around: it's a wide, well light room, some old, eroded furniture is carefully placed to give the impression of a living room. On the ceiling, glass shards are attached with threads making a rudimentary chandelier, which is lit up with lamps laying around the room, giving an impression of warm fire-place lights.

On the walls, multiple old, dirty posters showing images of space are hanging next to some childish drawings, some old coats are hanging on the greyish walls, a few hammocks are hanging beside each other next to a handmade swing. A few wooden and cardboard boxes are used as tables, with napkins on top of them.

Artur looks down, still admiring the room and finally sees two small girls rushing at Stell to hug her, looking at her with a big smile. He couldn't help but smile himself, seeing Stell being happy almost to tears, reunited with those girls. He knows that the past events were difficult for her, with the danger they faced, Stell thought that she won't be able to see her loved ones ever again.

When the girls notice the presence of Artur, their expressions change from a smile to stress and fear, they bounce from Stell to go hide behind boxes, on the other side of the room with little screams of panic. Artur is surprised with the fast movement of the girls but could have predicted that they would be scared of seeing another person coming to their home.

"Sis! who is that?! Why did you let him inside?!" whispers loudly one of the girls to Stell. "Girls, calm down. This is Artur, this man saved me while I was in my expedition. He is hurt, so, to repay his help, I accepted to tend to his wounds" Stell is talking in a calm and reassuring tone. The little girls were more than alarmed by Artur's presence but Stell was able to calm them enough to listen to her a little more. "From what I've seen, he isn't dangerous, still, I will keep an eye on him as long as he stays here." explains Stell, looking at Artur who is staring back, staying silent at Stell's explanation. He knew that try to say something, make an excuse to the girls right now would only scare them.

When he looks at them, they hide completely once more, the scene ressembling a game of hide-and-seek. "It's actually a good thing they don't trust a random person directly, from all I've seen, this place is far from safe" says Artur to Stell who is trying to reassure the girls, "Yeah it's how they were raised here, there's too much people in this world that only wish to hurt others, trust is value that was abandonned by most in the undercity" says Stell, with a serious look, holding the girls close.

"Take a sit, I need to take care of your broken bones" says Stell, showing Artur a wooden box. "You already did so much you don't need to bother, I just need some rest" he says, "Don't be stupid! You already have multiple fractures and, you already helped me by doing that rodeo on the drone, was quite a show to be honest" she says, letting out a small giggle, "Oh don't bring that up! Please, just thinking about it makes me dizzy" he says also smiling a little holding his head with his hand mimicking a headache.

In the end, Artur accepts the help of Stell and sits down, she looks around trying to find someting to ease Artur's pain, she finds some old bandages and wraps them around Artur's chest and shoulder after he took off his long coat which he placed next to him on the box. Quickly opening a small broken refrigerator, she picks up a bag of half melted ice and gives it to Artur. "Thank you, I really can't thank you enough for all the help you've done for me, but..." Artur thinks a little, hesitating to ask, "Why did you help me in the first place?" asks Artur, bothered by the question for a long time.

Stell looks at Artur, her expression changes, saddens a little, then she looks at the girls, still hiding behind the boxes, wary of Artur, "You should rest for now. We can discuss it later. You'll need to stay here for a few days at least to heal those fractures" responds Stell with a calm, saddended voice.

Artur looks at Stell for a moment, "Yeah, you're right. It was one hell of a day" he says, smiling, he thanks her again before laying down on the box, pressing the ice agaisnt his chest. "What about your hand, do you need help with that?" he asks, "I can take care of it myself, don't worry, try to get some sleep" she rejects."I know it's not luxury or anything but it's the best we have, rest well Artur" says Stell, "Thanks, you too, you should be exhausted" he says. He gets in a somewhat comfortable position and closes his eyes, but is unable to fall asleep, everything that has happened so far was so much, he couldn't control any of it, instead of getting answers, he got even more questions about this world that he couldn't even begin to answer.

He finally fell asleep, he saw another dream, there was the same, white haired person, observing him, not saying a word, the person felt far but close in the same time, the person did a sign for Artur to come, without a thought, he obliged. Artur was slowly walking through a blurry road, every of his senses were corrupted in some way. The white haired person stopped, stepped aside and showed Artur the landscape, they were in a mountain, so high up that the landscape that Artur saw was mostly the moon. He tried to reach out for it but fell, he kept falling and falling until after a flash, he woke up.

Artur woke up suddently, anxious, looking around him, the warm light had losen some of it's brightness, instead a fire was lit in the middle of the room, making it warm and more pleasant to rest. Stell is sitting beside the fire, taking care of it while crafting something on the side. Artur looks beside him and notices the two girls hiding again, trying to escape eye contact with him, he looks down and notices a bottle of water, laying next to him.

He takes it, and feeling a high thurst, does not hesitate to drink a bit of the water, the awoken looks at the girls again, "Did you bring me this while I was sleeping?" he asks, one of them hides behind the other who hesitates before nodding with a small movement, still not looking at him.

Artur smiles, "Thank you, it's very kind of you" he says before holding out the bottle with half water left inside, "Here, you need to drink as well" he says with a smile, the girls look at the bottle, hesitating, Artur stays patient, trying to not make a single sudden movement, the brave girl approaches first, the hidden one follows her steps carefully.

When they reach close enough, they quickly snatch the bottle, giving a quick look to Artur before hiding again, he turns to the fire again and notices Stell, observing the scene, she had changed clothes, he didn't noticed it before but, underneath the black coat, Stell wore a compressed jump suit, it was old, damaged and had camouflage motives which reminded of the military. Instead of the black coat, Stell was weary an old fuzzy sweater over the jumpsuit.

She smiles, resting next to the fire. "So, feeling a little better?" she asks. "Yeah I think so, thanks, how about you? Is your shoulder alright?" he asks, noticing a bandage wrapped around her arm with red stains of blood, "It's better than you think, it looks bad but it'll heal with some time, with the number of bullets that was shot, it could have been much worse" she responds quickly.

"I guess you're right... So listen, you really need to explain to me more about this Organisation, "SARCO", and who are those "Anomalies" you kept talking about?" asks Artur with a more serious tone. Stell looks at Artur, she sighs, preparing for the explanation :

"Alright, listen... For as long as the world can remember, they were two dominant species in the world, Humans and Anomalies, anomalies are practically exactly the same as humans, the same body, mind, etc... The thing that differentiated them was their supernatural abilities, they have proven to be able to wield elements and shape it to their liking, fire, metal, water, wood or even specific objects. Each anomalie had a different element they could control.

When the humans discovered the existance of anomalies and the potential threat that could cause this power, they were scared at first but the anomalies showed themselves peacefully, wanting to cooperate with humanity. So for 500 hundred years, peace was settled between the two species even if some tension was still seen during this period.

There were a lot of tension but not enough to cause a war, until..." Stell stops a little, "Until the reunion of the "Grand capital". Humans thought that with this accord, humans and anomalies would finally be in total peace but during this reunion, the former leader of the anomalies has gone mad and with his power, destroyed the whole assembly, killing everyone. After that, the leader took his own life, creating an immense bloodbath with no survivors or so we think.

This tragedy was the only thing that the human forces waited to start the war agaisnt the species, "The Last War" they call it, it was 10 years ago, the war lasted a single year and yet, the destruction and deaths occured in it is recorded as the largest whole history. In the end, the humans have won, counting hundred of millions of deaths in their side and only tens of thousands in the side of anomalies. I don't call that a victory" she says disgusted.

"Since then, humanity has grown stronger, with the advancement of technologies, especially SARCO... Now one of the richest organisations on the planet, they played a major role in "The Last War". There is not much anomalies left in the world right now, around 90% of them were wiped out during the war, but humanity still fears another attack from them, so the government funds SARCO, aka Special Anomaly Research and Control Organisation, the name is pretty but all it means is that they track the left over anomalies and kill them, or worse, capture them to do experiments on them, trying to learn more and more about the origin of their power.

They make me sick, they call themselves peacefull and yet all they do is hunt every anomalie they see, even their name "anomalies" were given to them because humans think that they should not exist." Stell is irritated talking about the organisation, Artur looks at her, his eyes are wide, he tries to process all the information, "So all of this that we saw in the city is because of them? This whole city is like a battlefield."

"Yeah, still, this place is the "safest" place for anomalies these days and most of them stay here, hiding, trying to survive, they call it the "undercity". Because most of them are here, SARCO sends drones or hunters to track them down. To SARCO, everybody that is in this area, is considered an anomaly" says Stell, "The drones tried to kill us because they thought we were anomalies, is there no way to show them we're not? Why do you stay here if you're a human?"asks Artur, perplexed.

Stell looks at him with a serious look, "I am human, it's true but..." she looks at the girls who secretly were listening to the conversation, "I have some friends I need to protect here". Artur looks at the girls and understands, feeling even more sadness, "But they're just children, how could they be a threat?" he says looking at Stell, she has a somber look, "SARCO does not care who you are, if you are an anomaly, they will do all they can to get you".

Artur is mixed, he is happy to finally have some answers about this world but is sadenned by the cold, brutal reality of the situation. He stays in his thoughts for a while, "So these ruins, are they the consequences of the war?" he asks, Stell is surprised of the question, as if she didn't really thought about the question, "Partially, the war did cause a lot of damage everywhere in the circle, but... Before the huge technological advancements, people lived in building like you saw up there, it was around a hundred years ago. Since then, the place was abandonned and only used as a hideout for criminals and anomalies" she explains.

A ringing noise comes from the fire, Artur startles a little, reminded of the noise of the drones, already a traumatic memory for him, Stell chuckles and carefully takes out a pot from the fire and stops the ringing, she presses a button to open it, a nice but chemical smell comes from the pot, "Dinner is ready! Girls! go grab the bowls!" tells the woman while mixing the pot with a plastic spoon.

Both girls rush to get the bowls, cheering when they see what's in the pot, "Oh! Is it soup today!? Yay!" cheers one of the girls with a soft and innocent voice, the other girl rushes as well, "Finally! It's been so long!"shouts the other girl with joy. They quickly bring four bowls, give them to Stell who pours some for the girls and one for Artur, she hands him the bowl with some steaming soup.

"Oh you really don't have to, I don't want to take your food if you don't have much of it" quickly says Artur, putting his hands in front of him. "Don't be silly Artur, if you don't remember anything when you woke up in that lab, you probably haven't eaten in a while, you also need some nutrients to get the healing process faster" says Stell.

Artur in the end accepts the food, embarrassed, Stell serves everyone a bowl of soup, the smell reminds the feeling of hunger to Artur, his stomach growls like a monster, he turns a little red, embarassed, again. The girls hide their laughter by covering their faces with their hands together which puts a nice ambience to the dinner, Stell giggles a little as well but tries to hide it in vain. Stell and the gilrs are sitting close togheter by the fire while Artur is sitting on the box by the wall a little further away. He knew that it would be better if he kept his distance to not scare the girls.

"Well if you're gonna stay here for a few days, I guess I could present you the girls: the energetic blondie is Sunny" shows Stell, Sunny smiles a little still looking away, waving slowly her hand, "And the calm silver haired is Luna", says Stell, "Hello" greets Luna quietly, still hiding behind her sister. Stell turn her head to the girls and shows Artur, "Girls, this is Artur, I know you're not used to see other people in here but as long as I am here, you will be safe" she says, smiling.

"Nice to meet you two" says Artur, calmly and smiling, the girl's expression change a little, from an uncomfortable look to a warmer smile, to them "If big sis is here to defend us then it should be alright", thought the girls.

Then, for the rest of the dinner, Artur watches Stell and the girls exchange about how it feels to live in a place like this, Stell wants to be a little careful about the subject but the girls do not seem to be saddened by their situation, "Since mom isn't here anymore, Stell has been taking care of us very well, we love her very much" says Luna with a kind and calm voice.

Stell tries to hide her smile, hearing such a wholesome statement from her.

After the dinner's exchange, Artur was able to learn a bit more about Luna and Sunny's personnalities: Sunny is the blond, blue eyed, energetic and extroverted girl, Artur noticed her bravery when she stood in front of her sister, protecting her as he entered the refuge. Luna is silverhaired with ruby red eyes, she is more reserved and calmer than her sister, Artur also noticed that she expresses herself better than her sister, using a more polite language than her sister who is using a more direct and friendly speach.

Artur was enjoying the company between the very attaching Sunny and the smart and understanding Luna. Everyone spent a nice dinner before settling to go to bed, Artur saw the two girls settle on their hammoks, trying to hide the fact that they're tired, they wait for Stell, "Alright girls, sleep well" wishes Stell before putting an old blanket for each girl, she starts leaving but the girls seem to be waiting for something else, Stell smiles, "How could I forget" she chuckles. She goes back to the girls and gives a gentle kiss on the forehead before wishing them a good night again.

The girls were happy and quickly turned around to fall into a deep sleep, Artur smiled as he watched this scene, he noticed Stell next to him, "If you need anything, I won't be far, I have to finish working on something" she says, standing up, about to leave, "It might sound as a strange question, but... Why do you keep shelter for them? They're anomalies and not your children" he asks carefully, "What happened to their parents?", Stell stops, trembles, memories flooding back to her.

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Thank you for reading this far! Hope you liked it as much as I liked making it,

Follwing in chapter 4 : Memories