Flammes

The path back to the refuge feels strange to Artur, something is wrong, he has already traversed this route multiple times, slowly starting to memorize the cracks on the round walls of tunnels, the rodents passing around as they notice his presence. The blobby sound of each step that he takes in the old water of the sewers, occasionally the sound of splashing puddles would break the heavy silence that filled these tunnels. He memorized those details to keep him distracted from the anxiety that he felt imagining what could lurk in each corner of these huge tunnel pipelines.

He did notice a difference during his way back, the odor had a slight scent of metal that he didn't notice before, he was used to the strong smell of rust, due to the strong humidity of this undergroung. But this was different, he tried to ignore it but he definitly couldn't ignore another change, the metallic scent was followed the one of blood. He thought it wasn't very surprising due to the many corpses of rodents lying around, serving as rations for the colletion of insects and vermines who survived for all this time.

The longer he walked, the more it bothered him. He decided to fasten his pace to finally go back to safety with Stell and the girls, already smiling lightly, holding closely the gift he had found for the girls.

Multiple days has passed since he arrived at the refuge, Stell saved his life on multiple accounts when they first met but Artur was never really able to repay her kindness during his stay. They were more than a few moments where he thought he was more of a burden that anything for her and the girls. That was also the reason why he was always playing with the girls, trying to make them happy as much as he could, to bring a little light to the gloom life that Stell and the sisters have went through. Him being finally able to explore the undercity, find food and water was making him feel more useful to the group, like the care that they were giving him wasn't simply out of pure pity but a reward from a difficult task. He knew that he won't be able to stay with them forever, he wished to explore the world and find out more about himself. Every night that Artur spent, he was trying to remember something, anything from before he woke up at that laboratory, trying to make sense out of the dreams he had about a white haired person and the moon. He needed the answers, about him and the world around him, but know, he had another wish, to help and protect the girls that helped him and saved his life. In this world, the life of anomalies is dangerous and unfair, the sisters were only children and already have lived through more pain that anyone should.

Thinking about it made Artur feel even more disgust to that organization, "SARCO", he has questionned Stell multiple times already, to learn more about the motives of this organization, and the reason of their cruelty agaisnt the anomalies. The war played a major part in it, the hate of humans never really stopped, and probably never will until the anomalies are completely extinct. That way of thinking really confirmed to Artur that people only see anomalies as beasts, without any control or reason. But from his side, the only anomalies he ever met were the small kind girls who took care, never at any point he felt in danger in their presence. Artur was certain that the uncontrolable fear of the majority was the unbreakable wall that stood between peace and the anomalies. In any case, he swore to himself to protect the girls, until they find a place where danger would never find them.

The long walk was finally coming to an end as Artur approached the door of the refuge, stocked with water bottles in the pockets of his jacket and in his hands, the toy wrapped in a thin towel, in a small attempt to make a wrapped present for Luna and Sunny. As he got closer, he gave a final glance behind himself, carefully shining the light, fearing that a too sudden movement would make cause for the monster hiding behing him to jump at him, but once again there was nothing, not a single living thing. Something is wrong, the smell of iron has grown thinner as well as the one of blood but he was still certain he could recognise it in the moist of the sewers. He stared for a moment at the dark path behind him, frozen in place, hesitating to look back at the door, he looked at the void in front of him as if something looked back at him, hesitating to come out of the neverending darkness past the light of Artur's flashlight. There was nothing, "Come on, don't be an idiot, there is nothing there" he thought to himself before finally reaching for the door, trying as hard as he could to ignore the uneasiness he felt. Something is wrong.

Artur knocks at the door in a distinct pattern, remebering how he was rehearsing with Stell on a wooden box before heading out on the expodition. The thought brings a small smile on his face, he knew of much important this code was for Stell and that he wouldn't be able to enter even if his voice was recognised on the other side. Some sounds of rushing are coming from behind the door, reminding Artur how he got in the refuge. Stell was the one who opened the door, giving a little careful peek outside, but when she saw Artur, her expression relaxed and she opened the door more fully, letting Artur inside.

As he enters, feeling triomphant of his expedition, Stell lets out a releaved sigh, "Glad you're okay Artur, you've been there for a while, the girls were worried" she says, crossing her arms over her chest. Artur smirks and give a look to the girls who greet him with a smile, "Hi Artur!" says Sunny waving her hand in excitement. Luna is standing beside her, putting her book away and giving a gentle smile to Artur, "Hello Artur, was everything alright during your exploring?" she asks. Artur gives a quick look to his gift wrapped in the towel and smirks, "Yeah everything went smoothly, I was surprised, not a single drone in sight. I guess I got a little lucky for once" he says in a joyful tone. "I managed to get some water and even a little something for you girls.", he pulls out the bottles out of his pockets and puts them on one of the boxes. He gets a few steps closer to the girls and hands his gift to the sisters, waiting for their reaction.

The girls look at the towel, eyes wide, surprised by the sudden present. Stell seems to be surprised as well, looking at the towel, trying to figure out what kind of object was Artur holding. Sunny is the first one to approach the present and Luna follows at her step, they are curious but are wary of Artur's gift. They slowly unwrap the towel togheter and discover the plush toy, in unison, the eyes of the sisters light up, as if this is the first gift they received in years. They pick up the plush from Artur's hands and jump with excitement, giggling togheter as they appreciate the smooth decorations of the toy. "It's so pretty and soft! I love it!" screams Sunny in excitement, "It's so cute! Thank you so much Artur!"follows Luna, as excited as her sister.

The girls give a big smile to Artur can't contain his smile as well, they then lifted the plush, like a trophy gained from a competition, in the air, showing it to Stell. She gasps and gives a warm smile to the girls, happy that they are able to enjoy such a moment. She looks then at Artur, showing a grateful expression, no words are spoken in this moment between Artur and Stell but he understands her feelings and is happy that he was able to bring some joy to the girls.

While the girls play with their new plush gift, Stell hears a light thud, she peeks behind her quickly, trying to discover the source of the thud. The sister's voices did muffle the sound, making Stell doubt of a possibility that it could only be her imagination, she would've hoped it'll only be that. She looks at the door, concerned. It was from the other side

Artur notices Stell's worried look, she was starring at the door, waiting for something to happen. He was quickly reminded of the uneasy feeling he had entering the refuge, "Did she noticed something strange too?". Something is wrong.

Both Artur and Stell are watching the door, trying to make the least sound possible, ignoring the voices of the girls who seem to be distracted enough to not be concerned. Another thud, a heavy sound came from behind the door, it was clearly silenced, something that's on the other side doesn't want to be noticed. Stell starts to feel a cold sweat flowing down her face, the ambience changes quickly, Sunny and Luna have too noticed that's something is wrong by the reaction of the adults.

Stell slowly gets closer to the boxes, where some of her crafting equipement was left, she gives a sign to the girls to get away from the door, being the main source of fear for everyone in the room. Artur gets up slowly from his knee and gets in a position of wary, facing the door while taking steps away from it. He is reminded of the scent of metal that he felt during his way back. Something is wrong

Stell is staring at the door, still certain that some danger is lurking nearby, she then gives a quick look to Artur, who is also showing signs of anxiety. "Artur, be honest... Were you followed on your way back? Did someone follow you all the way here?" she glances at him, hoping, praying for a negative response. "No, I'm sure of it, I've checked multiple times..." he stops, changing his certain to a more shaky one, "Although... I did have a bad feeling on the way back, but there was nothing there..." he gets a quick flash of when he looked in the dark one last time. The fact that in reality, there was probably something staring back make him tremble.

Another thud, a louder one, closer than ever to the door of the refuge, the only separation between it and the ones inside. Artur starts to lose his cool, he doesn't know what is coming, it could be something worse than the drones, something that he and the others wouldn't be able to escape this time. Artur remembers about a discussion he had with Stell, learning about SARCO. She instructed him about the worst danger anyone could face about this organisation: They are called "Hunters", specialized soldiers, killing machines formed to eradicate every anomaly. Not even military machines could be as dangerous as those killers. Knowing that every that every person in the undercity is considered a criminal or an anomaly, Artur knew that a "Hunter" wouldn't spare anyone he would spot, not him, not Stell and definitely the anomaly sisters.

There was no other option, the thing that was on the other side was a "Hunter", Artur had no plan of escape and definitely no plan for a fight agaisnt such a monster. Stell is frozen, staring at the door, waiting for any movement, preparing for any incoming danger, she had the same thought as Artur. She is starting to feel the anxiety and stress, creeping on her, making her lose her composure but she knows that she would need to be ready for anything to protect Luna and Sunny, this was no time to lose herself into fear.

Sunny was starting to feel her breathing accelerate making overwhelmed by her emotions, the overdose of stress coming so suddently started to form a tear in her eyes. Luna tried to stay, following Stell but fear was starting to consume her as well, she was imagining what could be on the other side of the door, making her anxiety more and more noticeable. Both girls were dead silent, frozen in place, watching at the door and waiting for Stell to tell them anything that could reassure them. The stress in the room was like a thick cloud, making every single breath a challenge.

In unison, everybody freezes their movement and their respiration, leaving a couple of seconds in complete silence. Artur is cramped, he doesn't blink, feeling sweat running down his face, to his chin and then falling on the dry ground.

Another quick thud is followed by the instant crashing of the door, parts of steel and wood planks are flying across the room, hitting the walls, bouncing around in a chaotic harmony. The loud noise make's Artur jump and instinctively put his arms in front of his faces, protecting it from the debris. The girls shout in panick, cramping to each other, facing away from the flying pieces of the door. The powerful shock wave made them fall on the ground. They directly clutched themselves agaisnt trying to look away from the iminent danger facing them, tears started flowing on their faces as they couldn't keep up with their overwhelming emotions.

Stell shook slightly from the crashing and blocked the debris but was still focused on the entrance, watching it with a predatory look. She is the first one to see the intruder to the refuge between the flying parts: it was a tall figure, wearing a worn-out advanced metal armor. The armor seems heavy but the articulations are free enough for the wearer to move freely. The metal plates has signs of damage with cracks and cuts but the signs of SARCO are noticeable to Stell, this is a hunter, no doubt now. The confirmation makes her heart race even more.

There are three things that Stell noticed the most about the hunter's equipment: First was the gauntlets. In the form of large heavy metal claws, ressembling the ones of a grizzly bear, they were responsible for easely breaking down the reinforced door of the refuge. Second, holding in his right hand, was the large hunter knife in the form of a deer antler. Each branch of the knife was sharp and pointy, making it an intimidating weapon. Finally, when Stell looked up, she saw the mask of the hunter. Connected to the helmet, the metal mask was sharp and had a beastly shape. The mask was illuminating a hologram in front of the eyes, projecting glowing savage red eyes.

The gaze of the hunter's mask alone was enough to set fear into Stell's heart. Feeling her pulse accelerated and breathing intensified, she quickly took a deep breath and reached to the side to pick up her crafted weapon on the box beside her. It's a self-made fire grenade that she was crafting from the moment Artur arrived to the refuge. She knew that a weapon like this would be necessary to have protection agaisnt dangers from SARCO, especially a hunter. It was rudimentery but she was hoping it's power would suffice to hurt the hunter enough to escape.

With no hesitation, Stell takes the grenade and activates it with the press of a button. The debris have now fallen and the hunter is inside the refuge, staying in a fighting beastly stance, ressembling a predator ready to jump to its prey, starring with its red glowing eyes. Stell's muscles tense as she throws the fire grenade at full strength, exhaling quickly. Artur instinctively dodges to the side when he notices the fast flying object, finally leaving him paralysis from the anxiety.

The grenade flies right in the direction of the hunter's head, activating in the flight. The hunter quickly notices the weapon with a look of his red eyes. Unfazed and with a effortless swing of his right arm, he deviates the grenade who goes off in the wall with a powerful blast. Another shock wave makes Artur stagger agaisnt the boxes, making him stumble. The sisters, who are stuck agaisnt the wall on the other side, let out a panicked scream, cramping agaisnt each other even more. The flammes lighted by the grenade cover the whole wall of the refuge, creating a strong wave of heat. The silence is now replaced by the noise of burning and destruction, the burning drops of fuel liquid drops slowly from the wall.

The hunter who was watching the fire caused by the weapon, hypnotised by it's bright glow, slowly turn around, putting his menacing gaze in the eyes of Stell, his red bright eyes contrasting in to two glowing points from the shadow caused by the fire's light behind him. The giant silhouette of the hunter towers in the middle of the room. Stell is out of breath, the hunter easely crushed the only chance for them to escape. She tried to move to reach the knife she has attached to her belt, but she knew that any move she was about to make, could be her last. She wanted to act, she wanted to protect her sisters but she felt powerless by the presence of the metal beast.

Stell was trying as hard as she could to catch her breath, but the smoke who was spreading in the shelter was slowly infecting the air. She clumsely started reaching out to her knife, her accelerating heart and intense breathing making her lose her balance, she gave a few worried looks to Artur who quickly stood up and checked with a glance if Sunny and Luna were safe.

When Artur saw that the rapidly progressing fire through the shelter, he started to worry that the only entrance of the refuge would be blocked by the flammes, leaving them at the mercy of the armored hunter. He knows that a direct confrontation agaisnt him would be useless, not only he armour seems to be impenetrable, his large knife gave the hunter an easy way the slay everyone in the room in a few sharp strikes. Artur started to feel the room heating up with the growth of the artificial fire. Adding to his sweat from the heat, cold sweats covered Artur as he was paralysed right in front of the metal hunter. He tried to recompose himself, but knowing that he has no way to protect the girls or help Stell to push off the hunter in any way, froze him in place, increasing anxiety by the second. Still clueless on any action to take, he instinctevely took a step forward, one that felt like it lasted for hours. He was still thinking of his plan of action, thinking that getting closer to the danger would illuminate him in some way.

Stell saw Artur approach the hunter as she was trying to control her respiration, she was seeing the refuge be set ablaze, the smoke slowly leaving no trace for fresh air to catch a breath. She finally held grip of her knife as she felt an urge of aggressive energy, like transmitted from the weapon, ready to attack the hunter, not thinking about the consequence. But as she was about to pull the blade out of her belt, in one blink, the armored hunter charged at her with incredible speed. Stell tried to instinctively to dodge the metal claw, reaching her throat but the speed of the hunter overwhelmed her and she felt the cold greep of the claw close around her throat. The pain and lack of air was instantanious to Stell, she gripped the gauntlet with her hand, trying to set herself free as hard as she could. She felt her feet losing the sensation of the ground, the hunter lifted Stell of the ground, choking her while pinning her against the wall. The metal beast had no hesitation, setting paralysing fear to the girls who scream at the top of their lungs at the sight of their sister in danger. Stell gasped for air as she watched the hunter's projected red beast eyes stare at her with a cold gaze. She was feeling that at any second, she would faint from the lack of air and the intoxication of the fire's smoke. But once again, gathering some of her remaining energy, she gripped her knife and pulled it out of her belt. The hunter glanced at it with disinterest as he was continuing to hold Stell's neck with his claws. Stell felt a tear flow on her cheeck as she let out a struggled and rageous scream, she lifted her blade and lunged it at full strength at the hunter's shoulder and with a metallic sound it recoiled, vibrating in her arm. Stell lets out another enraged scream, stabbing the hunter again and again. But with one final struggled but strong strike, she lunges the blade in to the shoulder. As the knife makes contact with the robust armor plates, it shatters with a glass like sound, feeling powerless, Stell lets out a frustrated and stressed scream.

Artur felt the distress of Stell as he saw the metallic shards drop on the floor. The hunter's armor had barely a scratch and he seemed unfazed by the multiple attacks. Artur was in shock by the immense speed and strength of the hunter, he knew that combat was not possible and escape was the only way for them to get out of the situation alive. But the flammes were getting higher and Stell was slowly starting to lose conscience from the lack of air, combined with the intoxication from the smoke who was getting worse and worse since no ventilation was possible in the refuge. Artur looked around him in panick, searching for something that would get the attention of the hunter, but he was caught off when he heard Stell's struggled and weakened plea, "Please... take the girls... run away... save them!..." tears were flowing on her cheeks. Artur looked at Stell's desperate gaze and felt a tear in his eyes as well, he knew that the situation was dire and he needed to act quick. He turned to the girls, they were crying, screaming, begging the hunter to release their sister. Artur wanted to cry as well, let his emotion lose, he was scared and unaware of how to act, but he understood that no other solution was possible.

He covered his mouth to protect from the smoke and pushed the box he stumbled on, violently, hurrying to the sisters. Torn apart in his mind, but he didn't let himslef hesitate. He grabbed Sunny and Luna by the waist, picking them up horizontaly, each with one arm, lowering his head to escape the toxic smoke. The girls were struggling, unwilling to let their sister in here, with the metal beast. Artur gave another glance at Stell who was gripping with both of her hands, the claw that was choking her, fighting as hard as she could, but the hunter remained still, concentrated on his task. Artur looked down, ashamed of what he was about to do, he looked at entrance who was slowly getting ingulfed by the flammes, preparing for a sprint, holding the girls tightly while they were still debating. He took a breath of some of the remaining fresh air and started to run to the broken exit. As he passed through the flammes, he hold the girls close to him, hoping that his arms will be the only parts touched by the fire. The sisters screamed in unisson as they passed, still calling out to Stell. As they left, Artur didn't stop to run, going as fast as he could, feeling that his lungs would give out at any moment due to the lack of air. When he arrived to a crossing, he stoppped, putting the girls down, who were already panting from fighting back agaisnt him, on the wet ground.

As soon as the sisters touched the ground, they bolted in the direction to the refuge, where smoke was coming out, ressembling a factory machine. But before they can escape him, Artur caught them, shouting at them to stop. "Let us go! Stell is still in there! How can you abandon her like that, you monster!" screamed Sunny, tears flowing on her cheeks. "We didn't have a choice! I needed to get you out of there and you still need to run!" Artur shouted in a shaky voice, letting his stress busrt out, making his body shake heavely. "No we need to get back! I will not let a loved die again while we run!" shouted aggressively Luna, still fighting back against Artur. "No it's too dangerous, I will not let you get back there! I can't let you get back there, I just can't" He said with a high voice of authority, but when he saw Luna's worried face, he calmed his voice, trying to keep his cool as much as he could. He got on his knee, getting on the same level as the sisters, "Listen, you need to keep running, as far and fast as you can, you don't deserve to live in a cruel world like this one, but you have to live, survive and be free. I will do what I can to save your sister and we will join you later, I promise." Artur's face was serious, his words were sincere and the shakiness in his left him instantly. "Your sister will come back, you will be rejoined togheter and live a happy life, far from this place." Artur believed in his words, he wished for this family to be happy because he knew that they didn't deserve what was happening to them.

The girls were looking at Artur, tears in their eyes, holding each other tigthly, the now dirty plush toy still in their arms. "But what if you don't, we will be all alone, it's too scary..." Luna's voice was quiet, mostly talking to herself. "You have already went through all this, you are the bravest girls anyone could ever imagine. I know it's hard but you need to trust us and we will find you, wherever you are and you will be safe, I promise." He responded without hesitating, looking dead serious into Luna's eyes. "Now go, run as far as you can" He said, standing up, looking at the blazing entrance. Both Luna and Sunny are speechless, still looking at Artur and at the refuge, their old home, now destroyed by the cruelty of this world. Luna looks down, feeling her mind being torn apart by the choice left to her. She then looks at Sunny, who has a serious expression, and instantly understands that the choice is unanimous. She clutches up, her face red, the feeling of powerlessness fueling her rage even more, but she understood Artur's words and she trusts that Stell will come back to her. In unisson, Sunny and Luna turn around, letting the tears flow even more, and they start their long sprint to a destination that will hopely bring safety to the sisters.

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Thank you for reading till the end! Hope you enjoyed this longer part! :))

Following in Chapter 6: Escape