Wrecked World

"I wouldn't exactly call this hell," Aquarius muttered, shaking his head before leaning back in the chair. He glanced at the watch on his wrist—just as he thought, it wasn't moving.

He sighed and turned his gaze to the girl beside him.

"Umm, so what did you do this past thirty minutes?" Aquarius asked, his eyes narrowing at the black-haired girl.

She tapped her fingers melodiously on the window ledge as a gust of wind swept past.

Aquarius hadn't noticed earlier, distracted by the commotion, but the girl—about his age, with silk-flawless skin, black hair, and ruby eyes—was drop-dead gorgeous.

'She's pretty, but does she have brain issues, or some problems with hearing?'

"No, nothing, it's just that…" She paused, her eyes briefly meeting his before drifting back to the window. "There are other people besides us, so it isn't hell."

'So she's the type that thinks acting all mysterious makes her cool.'

Aquarius rubbed the bridge of his nose, standing up from his chair and heading toward the train's back exit.

The black-haired girl turned to face him. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going? Obviously to look for other people."

She tilted her head slightly, her tone confused. "Why would you do that?"

"Why…". 'Did she just ask me why?'. Aquarius rubbed his face with his right hand. "You know we're in a world we know nothing about. Not only that, but we don't have any food." He paused. "How are you planning on surviving?"

Her gaze seemed to pierce through him, analyzing every detail. "We're in an apocalyptic world; what other food are we supposed to eat?"

"Tsk." "Haven't you heard of self-hygiene before? You never know what monsters are made of or what unknown viruses they could transmit."

The black-haired girl just smiled, giving the ledge a loud tap. "We don't have a choice until we find people, do we?"

Aquarius couldn't argue with that. The chances of finding others were slim, and there was always the risk of stumbling upon some hideous creature from hell instead.

"Let's say you're right," he began, his tone sceptical. "Don't you feel anything from the death of your companion?"

Ina gave him a glance, her tone returning to that of cold indifference. "I never met him before that."

"But you told him not to cry," Aquarius countered.

"Well, he was making a lot of noise," she replied bluntly. "With the air already tense, it irritated me quite a bit."

Aquarius stared at her, dumbfounded. "You mean to say you stopped him from crying because the sound was invading your private space?"

She nodded. 'Bold character,' he thought.

"But you're quite weird yourself," she added.

"How so?"

"Well," she said, tapping the window ledge even louder, "you just watched people die right in front of you, and you were visibly panicking at the sight of this empty city. But now you're acting as if nothing happened."

Aquarius's face darkened at the remark. After a long pause, he muttered, "Those are two separate things."

She just smiled back at him, fingers drumming a rhythm on the ledge.

"Ina."

"What?"

"My name is Ina."

'That's a weird way to go about introductions.' He sighed, lifting his head to meet her gaze. "Aquarius."

"So, Aqua—"

"No, just Aquarius. We're not friendly enough for you to call me that."

But she paid him no heed, standing from her chair and striding toward him. "So let's start going, Aqua."

"I said don't call me—" But in the next moment, she had already jumped down through the door.

"Tsk." Aquarius clicked his tongue and hurried after her, finally leaving the train.

---

The world outside was just as he had thought: a collapsed civilization, now overtaken by green vines. But up close, they weren't just pulsing.

His eyes narrowed at the small intact building to his left, completely overgrown by vines.

As he stared at the window of the brown-and-milk-coloured two-story structure, he felt like the visible part of it was slowly vanishing—then, nothing.

'What the hell was that?' He quickly surveyed his surroundings, looking for any trace of vines.

'Phew.'

"At least I'm safe for now." His gaze lingered on the female figure standing in front of him. 'What's her problem, even?'

Sighing, he quickened his pace and caught up with Ina.

"Have you been here before?"

Her gaze met Aquarius for just a brief moment, but it was enough for him to understand what it meant.

'Why am I even following her?' As his jaw opened to call out to Ina, a gust of wind ripped the words from his lips.

The wind was eerie and haunting, making both Ina and Aquarius turn toward its direction. They instantly regretted that decision.

"Shit," Ina muttered.

A figure stood before them. Unlike the one-eyed monster, this one was much smaller—just slightly larger than Aquarius, who wasn't that tall.

The monster had a hunched back, and its long black hair covered its facial features. Its two long scythe-like arms clashed together, sending a shower of sparks. The monster's torso was covered in rocky spikes, and two hairy feet hung below it.

The air around it smelled like sulphur, and which each swing of it's arm the very ground shook and the already limited air became even thinner.

'But why is it wearing pants?' Aquarius thought but was snapped back by Ina's scream

"Run!" She screamed. Aquarius didn't hesitate for a moment to heed Ina's words. He dashed forward towards the opposite direction of the monster before turning to his right.

'Think, Aquarius.' He gritted his teeth.

'A dead man can't think, so let's focus on escaping this thing.' He briefly glanced at the monster, who was swinging its arm like a child headed for school.

Aquarius then turned to Ina, who was sprinting faster than he expected. "We have to find something to kill."

"What?" Ina asked, increasing her speed.

"That's the only way to awaken," Aquarius said as gusts of wind blew his words away.

"Awaken? What's that?"

"Never mind. Just get us to somewhere with less space."

Ina frowned, narrowing her brows.

"Why?"

"Tsk." Aquarius clicked his tongue.

"Do you expect to outrun that thing?" He paused. "Right now, it's just toying with us. But when it gets serious, we're as good as dead."

"How do you know so much?" she asked, her expression unchanged.

"Can you stop asking so many questions and just do it?"

She sighed, her expression returning to its usual calm.

"Just this once... don't make me trust you for nothing."

Aquarius nodded as she gestured towards a compacted rubble.

The monster, seeing this, rushed forward and, in almost an instant, closed the gap between them, it swung its arm toward Aquarius' head.

Ina yanked him forward at just the right moment.

"Whis!"

The sound of the monster's arm slicing through the air was the last thing Aquarius heard as he and Ina crawled into the narrow gap between two collapsed houses.

The monster stared at the narrow pathway, then turned its back, scanning the area as if searching for its next prey to vent its anger upon.

But as Aquarius and Ina collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, they began to hear another sound from inside their tiny hiding space.

'Clank.' 'Clank.'