(Continued)
After morning came and everyone woke up, they continued their journey immediately, despite the exhaustion that still weighed heavily on their bodies.
The snow still covered the ground densely, but the sun's rays helped warm them despite the cold weather.
Minutes and hours passed as they kept walking, following Joseph at the front, while Nicholas was teaching Ethan some fighting moves out of boredom. As for Jenny, she was walking alone, still thinking about the events of last night.
Nicholas threw a punch in the air, saying, "Don't throw a punch like this, as you see it's weak and won't cause much damage to the enemy. So watch me carefully and repeat after me."
Nicholas placed his right foot forward and his left foot behind it, then raised his hands to his face in a defensive stance, while bending his knees slightly at the same time.
Then he said in a serious tone, "Don't just punch with your arm, use your entire body."
His waist and shoulder rotated in a quick motion, he pressed on the ground with his back foot as he directed a straight punch with his right fist forward.
Then he turned his gaze to Ethan, "Come on, repeat what I did."
Ethan looked at him in admiration, then tried to mimic the movement, but his body swayed and his movement seemed heavy and unbalanced.
Nicholas laughed a little, saying, "Not bad for a start, but you'll master it with repetition, of course."
Ethan shook his head with a "Yes," then began repeating the punch over and over again.
Suddenly, Joseph stopped in his place, and everyone else stopped moving after him (except Ethan, who kept throwing punches in the air).
He turned his head slowly towards Nicholas and said, with a mix of non-seriousness and warning on his face, "We've reached the city, so it's better to stay silent from now on."
Nicholas and Jenny looked forward to see the city's features from afar: leaning buildings, small towers covered in ice, and no trace of any life movement.
Nicholas said, as if he recognized this place, "I know this place. I used to live near here before your friend kidnapped me."
Joseph replied to him with some annoyance, "Just stay silent, okay? We don't want to attract the attention of those creatures. Move forward."
They got closer, and the details of the buildings began to clear. Shattered windows, half-open doors, crushed cars, destroyed walls, with a thick layer of snow.
"Suddenly... and before they actually entered the city, Joseph said in a low but clear enough voice for those around him, "Get down quickly!"
It took seconds for everyone to hide under the snow, terrified and surprised by Joseph's sudden warning.
Nicholas took a quick glance towards the city, to be surprised by crowds of Wanderers, walking slowly through the deserted streets, their steps heavy and irregular, and some of their bodies leaning in a strange way.
Some continued walking with the group, while others randomly left the group.
Everyone remained silent, tense, waiting for them to move away in complete silence.
Nicholas whispered to Jenny and Ethan, "Stay still... these things react to sound and movement. Even if they are far away. Let's just wait until they move away, and pray they don't come near us."
One of the Wanderers crawled towards a wrecked car and started hitting it with his cold hands as if something had suddenly angered him.
Some ignored him, while others approached him and started hitting the car like him, which increased the tension in the team.
Several minutes passed, and the crowds of Wanderers moved away from the area, while those who were hitting the car remained in place.
Jenny whispered in Nicholas's ear nervously, "How long exactly will they stay here? I'm starting to freeze already."
Nicholas replied to her, trying to be patient with the cold snow, "I don't know, but there's nothing we can do now except wait."
Nicholas kept looking patiently towards the Wanderers with serious expressions, enduring the cold of the ice. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.
And the moment he opened his eyes, he found all the Wanderers who were nearby dead, their blood and guts scattered everywhere, and in the middle of all this chaos, a tall creature with a deformed body, as if it were flayed corpses shaped into a monster, with two long arms extending down to its feet, ending with sharp fingers like knives. Its face was deformed with black eyes, and a semi-inflated head, as if its brain was visible to everyone. In the place of the mouth, there were red tentacles like worms, moving as if they had independent consciousness.
The monster was feeding on one of the Wanderers, eagerly and quickly, to the point that its movements during eating were barely visible. Only the sound of a mix between tearing flesh and the screeching of bones under pressure, and a corpse being devoured as if it was decomposing at an unnatural speed.
Under the watchful eyes of Jenny and Joseph, who felt nothing but a mixture of horror and real danger.
Nicholas touched Jenny quietly, saying to her in a low voice, "Get ready, this is our chance. We're going to that house, it's the closest to us. I've already told Ethan, so inform Joseph of the updates."
Jenny swallowed hard with difficulty, and tension controlled her, afraid of making a sound and letting the stranger know their location.
Jenny slowly extended her hand towards Joseph's foot, poking his foot quietly. He slowly and nervously turned his face towards her.
Jenny looked at him with terrified eyes, and lightly nodded her head towards Nicholas, then towards the nearby house, trying to convey the message without uttering a word.
Joseph understood the signal quickly, and with great caution, he nodded his head in agreement with the plan.
Nicholas began crawling slowly towards the house, and the others followed him silently afterwards, under the sounds of crushing flesh and bones caused by the stranger.
Things went well and everyone reached the house, closing the door quietly behind them.
Despite the cold atmosphere, their faces were dripping with sweat due to tension and fear, except for Nicholas, who seemed accustomed to this sort of thing.
Joseph whispered in a complaining tone, "Damn, how I hate these Variegans, you can't even gauge their danger relative to you."
Nicholas replied to him cautiously, "Luckily for us, I know."
Everyone turned to him (except Ethan) with interest, before he continued his speech, "This bastard is plentiful in this city. He's fast, unbelievably fast... the moment he becomes aware of your presence, you're dead without a doubt."
Joseph replied to him, with anxiety clear on his features and voice, "Wait a minute? How fast exactly is he?"
Nicholas replied to him in a firm tone, "In the blink of an eye."
Joseph asked him with a suppressed scream, barely audible, "Wait again! You're saying you used to live here? How did you manage to live here, you fool??!"
Nicholas replied to him in a calm and steady tone, "I never faced him directly, but I saw him often in the area. And fortunately, I know every inch of this city, and I know where he appears most frequently, so I was able to avoid him with a little luck."
Joseph replied to him, patience starting to run out, "If you know the city well, then we've lost the sense of security before being smashed by that creature."
Nicholas replied to him while slowly taking the backpack off his back, opening a small opening with his knife so the zipper wouldn't make a sound, "First, let's all arm ourselves, in case any of us is attacked."
He pulled out an axe and then a medium-sized knife, giving them to Joseph.
He took out a spiked knuckle duster and a long sword that looked familiar to Ethan, before Nicholas confirmed his suspicions, saying, "This sword is from the old man. He told me to give it to you if I saw you."
Ethan grabbed the sword in admiration, then continued to examine it in astonishment and happiness, glad that they were finally complete.
He put his hand in the bag again and took out a small dagger, giving it to Jenny.
He put the backpack back on his back, then signaled for them to follow him.
He kept walking until he reached a broken window. He carefully stuck his head out and began looking right and left, examining the place, before climbing out the window, with the others following him directly.
He found himself in a shattered alley, full of garbage spilled on the ground. They continued to move away from the stranger's location quietly.
Nicholas reached the end of the alley, pressed against the walls, and stuck out a part of his face to be able to examine the place.
The moment he did that, he found a deformed human face, as if it were a human corpse that had decomposed over the years, standing directly in front of his face.
Nicholas froze in his place, and his eyes widened without uttering a word. He had no time to think—only a fraction of a second separated the look and him grabbing the Wanderer strongly by the face and pulling him towards himself, then he took a knife and severed his head from his body in a few seconds, leaving his corpse falling on the snow, its whiteness stained with the Wanderer's blood.
Nicholas kept breathing quickly from the shock, and his heartbeats increased tremendously.
Nicholas moved his eyes towards the others, who were overcome with expressions of anxiety and tension, while they took a defensive stance in case of any problem.
Nicholas turned his gaze back to the alley again, to glimpse long shadows extending and moving behind the walls, followed by non-human growling sounds.
So Nicholas suddenly ran in the opposite direction, with anxiety and seriousness controlling his face.
It didn't take a few seconds for the others to start escaping with him in the same direction.
They didn't look back, they just kept running, hearing screams and footsteps behind them.
Jenny screamed, unable to contain herself from terror, "Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn we're going to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"
Joseph shouted at her with a mix of nervousness and exhaustion, "Shut up, you'll make it worse, you damn it!"
Suddenly, Nicholas increased his speed and advanced ahead of all of them, and with all lightness, he jumped towards one of the windows, breaking it before shouting at them, "Come through here!!"
They hesitated for seconds, but the screams of the Wanderers and the sound of their approaching footsteps were enough to push them to move.
Ethan jumped first towards the window, crawling quickly inside, ignoring the small wounds that injured his hand from the glass, followed by Joseph, who was pushed inside by Jenny in a hurry.
As soon as they entered, the Wanderers started trying to enter, crowding the window in huge numbers.
Nicholas quickly raised his gun towards them and started shooting at them, tearing their heads from the front, falling dead instantly.
But due to their crowding at the window, their corpses blocked the opening, protecting those inside.
Nicholas turned around in terror to find Ethan signaling for them to follow him, then he quickly climbed up a broken staircase, with Nicholas and the others following him directly.
The place upstairs was chaotic as usual, cockroaches and insects walking around, and the ceiling had collapsed a long time ago.
A cockroach approached Jenny's foot, making her jump in terror with expressions of disgust on her face, at the same time Nicholas told them, ordering them, "Let's go up to the roof of the house, there are nearby houses we can jump to."
Joseph shouted at him in displeasure, "Just move and stop wasting time talking, we'll follow you in anything you do."
Nicholas quickly jumped towards a pile of debris scattered next to the wall, and used it to reach the opening that led to the roof. He climbed through it with lightness and speed, then extended his hand to help the others.
Then he immediately heard a strong crashing sound, followed by the sound of the Wanderers running in the house.
As soon as they went up, Ethan stumbled because the roof was slanted, but Joseph caught him at the last moment, saying in a worried tone, "Be careful, boy!!"
Nicholas pointed towards the roof of one of the houses that was attached to them, saying, "Towards that house."
He ran first without hesitation, and jumped to the adjacent roof, got up from the ground quickly, signaling with his hand for the others to come.
Ethan kept looking at him with admiring eyes, impressed by the move he made. He put the sword that was in his hand in one of his pants pockets, tearing it.
Joseph advanced towards him with exaggeratedly serious expressions on his face, stretched his arms towards Ethan, saying in a dramatic voice, "This might be dangerous for you, let me hel-"
And before he could finish his speech, Ethan jumped towards the adjacent roof, and upon reaching the ground, he started to curl up until he collided with Nicholas.
Ethan stood up quickly, raising both his arms in the air happily, and on his face a mixture of pride and joy.
Joseph remained frozen in his place, motionless, feeling betrayed, while a small tear fell from his right eye.
Jenny started poking him quickly with expressions of anxiety and terror on her face. He turned towards her with comical sadness, saying in a stiff tone, "What?"
So Jenny kept pointing madly backwards.
Joseph turned with frozen expressions backwards, to be surprised by a massive mass of Wanderers gathered on top of each other, as if they were building a rotten human ladder, climbed by their torn limbs and broken bodies, pulling each other by the legs and arms, piling up in huge numbers, screaming and roaring.
So Joseph and Jenny jumped directly to the other roof, with terror splitting their faces.
The mass fell on the roof of the house, spreading the Wanderers like locusts, in every inch of the place, to the point that some of them started falling from the house due to the lack of space.
As soon as Jenny and Joseph reached the other roof, Nicholas shouted nervously, "Damn it, they've reached us, keep jumping!!"
They all looked at the Wanderers falling from the roof behind them, like endless hungry human waves.
Everyone suddenly averted their gaze from them and started running at their maximum, jumping from one roof to the next, while the Wanderers behind them followed them, jumping like them. Those who fell got up again and started following them, and those who broke started crawling towards them, and some of those who fell were either dead or barely alive.
The chase continued for two full minutes without stopping, until they landed on one of the roofs and settled there after exhaustion overcame them.
Nicholas quickly examined the place to find a metal door leading to the lower floor.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, then hurried towards it. He put his hand towards a small window next to it, opening the door from the inside.
He signaled for them to enter quickly, his voice whispering hurriedly, "Come on, hurry!"
Nicholas entered first, followed by Joseph, who was panting, then Jenny, who almost fell from exhaustion, and finally Ethan, who kept looking back from time to time, looking at the Wanderers as they approached them.
Nicholas closed the door forcefully, then went downstairs hoping they would lose their trail.
Downstairs, the place was like the rest of the houses: destroyed, dilapidated, outdated.
Nicholas didn't pay attention to anything, he just kept walking forward until he found a window overlooking a place empty of any Wanderers.
He didn't wait, he went directly and exited the house through it, along with the others, moving away from the crowds of Wanderers chasing them.
Running at full speed, trying to get away from them as much as possible, until they stopped in front of one of the shops, entering inside to take shelter from the danger.
Ethan fell to the ground from extreme exhaustion, while Joseph leaned against one of the walls, panting heavily.
Meanwhile, Jenny sat on the floor, leaning her back against a broken shelf, looking at the ground with absent looks, and exhaustion controlling her face.
While Nicholas was trying to close the door opening with the shelves in the store, before he also sat down from exhaustion.
Joseph spoke, and relief began to enter him, "Finally... some quiet."
Ethan raised his hand up, raising his thumb in agreement.
While Jenny remained silent, panting from exhaustion.
Nicholas spoke exhaustedly, "Yes (breath), we're fine, but we have to get out of the city as quickly as possible."
Joseph replied to him sarcastically, "You lived here for a while as you said, so I think my mission is over from now on."
Nicholas laughed softly, then said in a tired tone, "As long as you've come this far with me, there's no room for retreat. Even if you wanted to go back, what guarantees that you won't die before even leaving the city? Or from hunger, for example?", then he took out a bunch of canned food from his bag and handed it towards Joseph with a slight smile.
Joseph took the canned food from Nicholas with a non-serious smile on his face, saying while putting one of his hands behind his head, "Logical enough for me."
Then he opened the can with his knife and started eating, at the same time Nicholas distributed food to everyone, so they could gather their energy to continue the journey.
A moment of peace among them, where only the sound of opening metal cans and chewing food could be heard.
Amidst this calm atmosphere, Jenny broke the silence, saying, "Can I ask you something?"
The three raised their heads towards her, quietly, then Nicholas said in surprise, "Of course, what is it?"
Jenny hesitated for a moment, looked at the can in her hands, then raised her gaze to them and said in a faint voice, "...I've known you for a while, so we consider each other friends now, right?"
Joseph replied to her, laughing, "Of course we're friends!"
Ethan's pupils widened for a moment before he signaled yes, with a sincere smile on his features.
Nicholas replied to her, with expressions of surprise on his face, "Yes, but why this sudden question?"
Jenny replied to them, with some tension and sadness in her tone, "You all lived in this cursed world, you sought to live in it despite its danger. Each one of you has his reasons for doing that, and me too... but I recently discovered that it was nothing but a false goal, it wasn't even real, just a sin I forgot all these years... so now I'm just confused about what to do after all this ends..."
A moment of silence prevailed after Jenny's words, seeming heavier than any moment they had experienced since the start of the journey.
Nicholas put his can aside, then said with an uncharacteristic quietness, "So you lost your goal then... I don't know how you feel now, so my words might not be suitable for you, but losing your goal doesn't mean your journey has ended, it just started anew."
Jenny replied to him in surprise, "What do you mean?"
Nicholas continued his speech, saying, "I don't know how to explain it well, but, consider it a new beginning. As you see, your life has changed since you entered the village. You have new friends, a home you long to return to, and a peaceful life to live. If you don't have a goal now, then at least make your goal preserving this life that you've been blessed with."
Jenny was affected by his words, convinced by every word he said, so she replied to him with a slight smile on her face, "Thank you."
Joseph spoke, saying in a sarcastic tone while eating his food, "Great, they're talking about life in the middle of a city that wants to kill them."
Nicholas replied to him with a serious face, "A person surviving without a goal is no small matter. The reason each one of us is in the place we are now... If a person has no goal in this world, then he has already sentenced himself to death."
Joseph raised his eyebrows a little, then smiled a sideways smile and said, "Great, you're wiser than you look."
So both Joseph and Jenny started laughing lightly, while Jenny said sarcastically, "Sorry, but he's right."
And while they were talking, Ethan was listening to them in silence... with an expressionless face, lost in his thoughts, as if the words he heard from Nicholas and Jenny started opening new doors in his mind, wondering about his real goal, and his urgent desire to have a goal like the others.
But his train of thought was cut off by sounds coming from outside, which planted tension in all of them.
Nicholas signaled for the others to be silent, but that was of no value at the present time.
And suddenly, they started hearing successive banging sounds from the direction of the door, as if there were thousands of hands trying to break into the place.
Which prompted everyone to think that the Wanderers had found their location... except for Nicholas, who was aware of the nature of the knocker.
He looked right and left in terror, hoping to find a door or even an opening to escape, but the place was only full of broken shelves.
Nicholas shouted in a low voice with terror on his face, "Hide behind the shelves quickly!!"
Nicholas and Joseph hid behind one of the slanted shelves, while Jenny and Ethan hid behind a different shelf.
Suddenly and without warning, the shelves that were blocking the door shattered, producing a loud crashing sound, terrifying everyone in the place.
Both Jenny and Joseph froze in their places.
In contrast, Nicholas and Ethan peeked towards the door's location through a small opening in both of their shelves.
They found the same stranger they had encountered earlier when they entered the place standing in front of the door.
Nicholas's heart dropped from its place from terror, while a mixture of anxiety and awe crept into Ethan's heart.
The monster suddenly disappeared and appeared in the middle of the store, causing dust and papers to fly from the ground from its speed. It seemed to them as if it had moved instantly and not by movement.
Nicholas gripped his gun tightly, ready for anything that might happen.
At the same time, the monster was standing in its place without movement, only moving its head quickly, making a sound similar to bone cracking.
The sound was annoying enough to make Jenny cover her ears and clench her teeth from the intensity of the tension, while Joseph remained frozen in his place, watching what was happening from behind the shelf.
Nicholas said to himself, with sweat and tension dominating his face, "He's not moving, excellent! This might be my only chance to kill him, and I must take advantage of it."
Nicholas silently raised his gun towards the monster, while Joseph turned his gaze towards him, opening his eyes in shock, and showing his teeth in fear, signaling to Nicholas to stop what he was thinking of doing.
Nicholas ignored his warnings, placing the muzzle of the gun in the same opening he was watching the monster through.
He held the gun tightly to ensure his hand wouldn't slip, placed his finger on the trigger with concentration, and in one moment
(Bammm!!!)
He pulled the trigger, firing the fateful bullet that would determine whether they would live or perish.
Nicholas quickly withdrew the gun from the opening, then hurriedly put his eye to it.
He didn't find the monster in its place, as if it had evaporated with the bullet into the air.
Nicholas slowly raised his eye from the opening in surprise and tension, shifting his gaze towards Joseph.
He found him looking at him with terrified eyes, fallen on the ground as if he was about to pee himself, which made Nicholas realize immediately what was wrong.
He didn't find the monster in its place, as if it had evaporated with the bullet into the air.
Nicholas slowly raised his eye from the opening in surprise and tension, shifting his gaze towards Joseph.
He found him looking at him with terrified eyes, fallen on the ground as if he was about to pee himself, which made Nicholas realize immediately what was wrong.
He quickly turned around, ready to shoot, and to his bad luck, and before he could do anything, the stranger pinned him to the ground quickly, not leaving him any time to react or think, and without waiting, started trying to devour him.
He started trying to tear him apart with his claws and eat him with his teeth, with insane speed almost invisible to the naked eye, and Nicholas struggling with all his might trying to survive.
His winter jacket was loaded with some iron inside it, which helped him keep up with him a little.
Nicholas was screaming in pain as he was forcefully pushed to the ground, trying with all his determination to keep the monster's jaws and claws away from his neck and face, but the monster wasn't attacking like any other creature. Rather, it was as if a primitive hunger madness had struck him. All his movements were fast, random, not following any predictable logic or pattern.
Nicholas opened his eyes in agony, to find his jacket almost completely torn, and his arms, which he was putting in front of his face to defend himself, bleeding heavily. "Damn it, I'm going to die... it can't be, it can't be, I didn't even get close, I can't die like this! Not like this!!!"
And during his struggle to escape the claws of death, he glimpsed with one of his eyes a strange shadow, of someone behind the monster.
He focused a little on it, to be surprised that it was Ethan, who had sneaked up behind the stranger without him realizing his presence.
Ethan tightened his grip on the iron knuckle duster.
He performed quick movements, applying the punching technique he learned from Nicholas earlier, delivering a strong blow towards the monster's spine. The spiked ends of the knuckle duster penetrated his back, making him scream hysterically.
His body started shaking excessively, his head moving in different directions in fractions of a second.
But that didn't distract Ethan even for a moment.
As soon as the monster tried to turn towards him, Ethan delivered another blow to his knee, causing the monster to lose its balance and fall to the ground temporarily, creating a tremor in the ground.
At the same moment, Ethan jumped on him, after pulling his sword from its place, raised it high with both hands, determined to end the matter.
He brought it down with all his might on his face, piercing it, spreading his red blood, closer to blackness, everywhere, staining both his face and the floor.
But that wasn't enough to finish him off, as the blow wasn't sufficient to rip his soul from its place.
The monster tried to counterattack, but Ethan, in a flash, raised the sword into the air and brought it down on his head again.
Repeating that over and over.
Every blow was cutting a part of the monster's body, and every sound of collision between metal, flesh, and bone was bringing the monster closer to its demise bit by bit.
Ethan's trembling hand stopped, his hand still holding the sword deeply embedded in what remained of the monster's face, while he started panting from exhaustion.
He pulled the sword wearily from the monster's face, which had lost its features with every blow until his face was completely deformed.
Ethan got up slowly from his corpse, with blood covering both his features and clothes.
After making sure he was dead, Ethan turned towards Nicholas to check on him, with exhaustion almost overcoming him.
To be surprised by Nicholas in front of him, standing like a stone statue with a frozen face devoid of emotions, as if he didn't feel his injured arms.
Suddenly, he placed his hands on the surprised Ethan's shoulders, before hugging him tightly and tears coming out of his petrified face.
Saying in a grateful voice, "Thank you... thank you, I don't know what I would have done without your help. I was helpless, I even thought it was my end. I thought I would die before I could help her, leaving her to suffer, but you prevented that from happening... and I'm truly grateful for that."
Ethan remained frozen from shock for moments, but he just patted his back while looking at Joseph and Jenny in surprise.
Joseph interrupted them, expressing his concern, "Please, man, stop this drama and let's get out quickly before those monsters come again. They definitely heard his sound."
Nicholas wiped his face of blood and tears after letting go of Ethan, then started speaking in an exhausted voice, "You're right, we have to leave immediately."
So they left the store, leaving the monster's corpse to rot inside, or to be devoured by the other entities in the area.
Minutes and hours passed as they walked through the white snow, and they avoided the Wanderers most of this time.
Until night fell, and they stopped inside one of the houses overlooking the end of the city, represented by a white land, full of snow and crushed cars of various types, with some Wanderers visiting the place from time to time.
They closed the doors behind them, and prepared their sleeping place quietly, careful not to make any mistakes tonight.
So each of them went to sleep, immersed in their own worlds, ignorant of what tomorrow held for them.
The End.