"Why are you here? I thought you said I should play with my pals and that you're far older to be moving around with a child like me!" Kai said, frowning slightly, stepping out of the room and joining the quiet hallway.
No one stood in the hallway apart from Kinji, but Kai felt a great tension as if invisible forces were hiding at the corners of the room, waiting for the perfect time before they react. Though he saw the shadows he'd been seeing and commanding them all around, yet he couldn't understand how and why he was being tense under no pressure.
Kinji stared at the boy who was now tilting his head sideways as if searching for someone and gasped, pulling the boy's attention back to him.
"Kai, where is Senior Corporal Max?" he asked, his voice sounding in two folds, one of great joy and the other of great sorrow.
"He's in his office, go and check. Why come to me seeking his whereabouts?" Kai said, tilting the door handle and making a clanging sound pierce the air as he tilted the handle of the door.
"He's not in his office, nor is he in the training ground. I've checked everywhere but didn't see him around."
"Have you tried dialing his phone number, the one he usually takes along when he's even visiting the washroom?"
"Yes, yet he's not answering. But that's not the main reason I'm here. I'm here to give information. Lieutenant Gray ordered me to give either you or Max. So, since he's not here, you're the one to hear it."
…
"Sir, what's the difference between the monsters' grading?" one of the soldiers, slamming his sword against the eagle's corpse, said, stopping and clearing the sweat from his face.
"Why ask him that? Can't you see how tired he is? Let him rest so we all ask our questions. You're not the only one who has something to ask," Jinx said, picking up and throwing one of the small stones at Mike.
When it hit Mike's back, he bent down, grabbed a lot of stones, and began throwing them at Jinx. Thinking Jinx would be the only one to counter back, ten of the remaining eleven soldiers began picking up stones and throwing them at each other.
Streams of laughter tore through the air, sounding so loud debris began falling from the top of the collapsed building they stood beside, dripping in the air and landing on the ground with soft thudding sounds.
The clouds in the sky began moving, paving the way for the sun's glow and letting it dry up the wet land.
After two hours of gathering and picking the remains, Oin, the guy who was in the room and witnessed how the fight between Lieutenant Gray and the eagle began, sat down, gasping for air while staring at the scratches on his arm.
'How can a human have so much strength that he's able to fight against that huge creature?' he thought, shifting his gaze to the now butchered eagle.
He watched how the other soldiers moved happily, easily forgetting how dangerous the creature was and how it tried to slaughter the lieutenant.
Meanwhile, Gray stood at a far distance from where the gathered pieces of the bus were, his eyes fixed on the ceiling of the collapsed building ahead. He squeezed his eyes, seeing a shadow fly by, diving and slamming itself into the building and splitting metals and wood in the air.
Though he was close, yet he felt a pressure that was far more intense than the one he felt when he first saw the eagle. He screeched his hand across the sharp edges of the sword, cleared the droplet of blood from it, and began walking toward the building.
"Sir, should we follow you?" Mike said, clearing the mixture of blood and dirt from his shirt and running after the lieutenant.
Gray turned, looked at the boy following him, smiled, and shook his head. Though he didn't say a word, the boy's facial expression changed. Mike stopped, stood there placing his hands on his waist as he watched the lieutenant vanish from sight.
"I'm sure we won't survive if we follow him. Let's just gather the remains and add them to the ones already placed inside."
"But at least he should have taken one or two of us along. If anything happens, who would carry the remains? Or that one doesn't need to be sent back?"
"I'm sure. Let's just do as he has ordered us."
"I think there are some of the wolf creatures around. I just saw one running from the two buildings behind the one the eagle was found inside."
"Follow me! Let's fight them till the last one is dead before Lieutenant Gray returns."
"Are you sure they're not eagles? I don't want to see or get hurt by one of those monstrous creatures."
"Since we were able to fight against the E-skilled monsters, let's try and look for ones of the same level so we increase our fighting skills like we were taught," Mike said, pulling his huge sword upward, placing it on his shoulder, and walking toward the direction he talked of.
Ash air gushed out from broken pipes jagged under rotten iron rods piercing a collapsed building that had torn trampoline hanging and floating in the air. Torn papers gathered under the soft winds and swirled up, circling and landing on the ground.
…
"Are you sure of what you're saying?" Kai asked, with a confused expression.
Kinji didn't say anything. He stared at the boy, disgust deep in his eyes, and nodded.
He turned, walking out of the hallway and opening the exit door, letting the sun's ray and night air welcome him. He stopped, closing the door and standing tall at the gate, tilting his gaze upward and breathing heavily.
Meanwhile, Kai, now drowned with great fear, walked inside the room, stood at the window, and watched the bats flying above, moving from the clouds to the moon…