The man who had almost killed Yumiel had disappeared. Yumiel opened her senses but detected nothing in the surroundings. For her, this was her chance to escape. Leaving, she glanced around. She couldn't leave the little girl crying for her father.
Yumiel could not bring herself to leave the little girl behind.
« Come on, we have to leave now! »
Yumiel didn't want to spend another second there. She didn't know where this man had gone or when he would return, but she felt it; she was no match for him.
« No, leave me alone! »
Yumiel approached and prepared to take her by force if necessary.
« Don't come near me, monster! »
« Tss »
Yumiel didn't care about her opinion. She grabbed the girl's arm and ran off as fast as she could. The little girl struggled as hard as she could, hitting and pulling, but nothing worked. After about a hundred meters, she tried to bite her tongue. Yumiel noticed instantly, turning around and grabbing the girl by the throat.
« YOU'RE CRAZY, YOU WANT TO DIE?! »
The little girl had difficulty speaking; her voice was rough.
« I'd rather die than follow a monster. »
Yumiel tightened her grip on the girl's throat, nearly rupturing her windpipe. After a few moments, Yumiel loosened her grip with a sigh. The little girl had a mark around her neck, choking from lack of air. Yumiel didn't want to waste any more time; she scooped the girl up under her arm and ran home. The girl didn't resist the journey.
There were no complications on the road; Yumiel was running at approximately 30 km/h. After a few minutes, she arrived. Yumiel put the little girl down. She was disoriented and terrified; you could see her sobbing, cold and scared, in the dark and gloomy streets that London had become. Yumiel didn't know what to do. She didn't really like children.
Not knowing how to proceed, she offered her food: « Come, I'll give you something to eat. »
The little girl looked at Yumiel before running away. Yumiel touched her frontal lobe.
« That's why I don't like kids. »
Yumiel caught up with the little girl in a few steps, grabbed her arm, and forced her back inside, making sure to lock the door once she was in. Yumiel still held the little girl. She threw her into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out some meat and vegetables, and began to cook.
The little girl sat staring at Yumiel, her gaze a mixture of hatred and resentment. Yumiel felt her stare, but ignored it. Throughout the entire preparation, the little girl never took her eyes off Yumiel. Once the dishes were ready, Yumiel brought them to the table. She set two plates, thinking that eating with the little girl would comfort her.
Yumiel was eating, but the little girl still didn't take her eyes off Yumiel. Feeling uneasy, she tried to break the ice.
« What's your name? »
The little girl kept staring at Yumiel, which eventually irritated her.
Yumiel slammed her fist on the table, making it shake: « WHAT'S YOUR NAME?! »
She jumped before bursting into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. « Marie, » she could be heard calling.
Marie was crying, bowing her head and sobbing. Yumiel definitely didn't know how to handle children.
« Eat, Marie, you'll feel better afterwards. »
Marie was still crying, her tears falling into her plate. She was trembling very slightly but managed to pick up her fork and then eat slowly.
Yumiel would have preferred absolute silence, but the noise outside was intensifying. Explosions were echoing throughout London. Yumiel left the table, handing her plate to Marie. She went upstairs, entered her father's study, and activated the mechanism.
The wall of the room began to rotate to reveal the gun rack. Yumiel modified her Colt with a Taurus Raging Bull (.44 Magnum).
« We'll see if he's still so cocky after this. »
The weapon was heavy, but Yumiel could fire it one-handed without any problem while remaining very accurate. The bullets didn't work like the Colt's. She just took a few bullets and put them in her pocket, then went back to see Marie.
She was there, finishing Yumiel's plate. Once she'd finished, she turned and looked at Yumiel. Surprised, Yumiel said, « I'm going out at night and I'm far from finished. If I were you, I'd stay tonight; you can go wherever you want once it's light. »
Yumiel opened the wardrobe at the entrance of the house, took out the largest backpack, opened the door and closed it.
Back outside, still with that sweet scent lingering over the city, Yumiel had only two objectives. The first was to gather as many resources as possible. And the second, to kill as many people as possible in order to become stronger.
She grabbed her phone to check the news before noticing there was no network.
« Good change of plans. »
She set off towards Morgane's house. She had planned to go there, but Morgane lived a little further away than Mathis. However, with Yumiel's current speed, it shouldn't take her long. Running to Morgane's house, she made a detour to see Mathis's house.
The house was barricaded, but it wasn't the only one; several houses were barricaded and remained so. Absolutely no damage was visible. Yumiel approached and opened her senses. She could hear whispers, though she couldn't quite understand their meaning.
« They seem to be doing well, » Yumiel thought, and resumed her journey towards Morgane's house. Near Morgane's home, Yumiel began to come across bodies. The closer she got, the more bodies she found scattered about.
Arriving on Morgane Street, she saw corpses as far as the eye could see. Hanging from buildings, dismembered, or charred. The houses were destroyed; some could no longer even be called houses.
Yumiel walked slowly to Morgane's house. It had been broken into; the door was torn off, the windows shattered, and some of the walls looked as if they had exploded. Yumiel entered the house to find it in complete disarray. Furniture, bricks, appliances—absolutely everything was in ruins.
Yumiel opened her senses but detected nothing, at least not in the house.