I turned to Kayla in surprise.
"She's just as bossy as you!" I said, laughing.
She gasped and stepped on my foot really hard.
"Hey!" I yelled, holding my throbbing left foot. "I'm not wrong..."
She turned and left, laughing evilly, which just meant she wasn't done hurting me yet.
I rubbed my foot a little before leaving the building. Kyo approached us and lead us into a carriage. We sat in the back with some soldiers as we waited.
I hadn't noticed the bright sky fade to crimson, my eyes grew heavy, and time seemed to be skipping by. I was falling asleep. The quiet rocking... a lullaby...
I could hear mom humming to me as I lay sleeping in her arms. She looks happy, something that looked new to me.
Mom... spiraled into a vortex, her screams deafening, the wind picked up and our house was no longer there, just the foundation as Pathogens rush upon us. A dream... no, this is all a nightmare.
"Calibrum." A stern voice came from behind me, and it seemed as though all time froze.
The Pathogens stopped in their tracks, frozen where they were, the wind froze in place, holding a bending tree at an awkward angle.
I turned my head toward the somewhat familiar voice to see a little girl with long black hair and a little red bow in her hair.
"Everything will be just fine." She stated, slowly walking to me, placing her hand upon my forehead, there was a sharp pain. It lingered and moved about my head viciously. The creature in my head... my Pathogenic side squirmed in agony.
"Protect him." She commanded, and the thing screeched in pain, filling my head with static noise.
It spoke in another language and the pain abruptly stopped. She smiled and clasped my hands together, falling onto her knees like I was.
"Survive Calibrum. We will meet again soon. Maybe for real."
She lifted my hands to her lips and kissed them as everything vanished.
***
I awoke with a gasp for air. It felt as if I hadn't been breathing for a long time. Kayla was sleeping next to me, her head against a small bundle of hay. I wiped the sweat from my soaked forehead and looked outside of the carriage.
The crimson sky was no longer crimson, but a deep dark black. The trees around us were no longer visible. The darkness clung to the trees, and a deep fog flowed past the carriage.
The noise of the forest would be frightening to a young child, but to me... it was calming. All of those organisms, living together peacefully in a horrid environment.
I was thankful for the cover of the carriage as it began to lightly sprinkle, the drops lightly tapping the cover with a nice noise to it. I looked over to Kayla, who was still sleeping. A bundle of hair covering her eye.
I took the hair and pushed it away. I also tried to peacefully move the hay out of her hair. As to why I was doing this, I didn't know.
***
"We're here!" yelled Kyo, who was still in the front of the carriage.
Kayla peered around, her eyes droopy. I sat up, not knowing when I had fallen asleep again.
"Well... we better get inside and-"
"Now!" I could hear Miko yelling.
An explosion occurred and guns began firing into the forest nearby. The gate began opening.
"He didn't come searching for us?" Kayla asked, to which I stayed quiet... so he didn't care much for us as he pretended to...
"I sent a message beforehand, stop worrying," Kyo said, smiling.
***
Inside the camp, people, including Markus, Michi, Montano, Byul, and Pika all crowded us. Most were glad we were okay. with the rest disappointed that a "Pathogen" survived.
"Cal! Kayla!" Byul said, pushing through the crowd cautiously. "We heard what happened! We need to hurry to the Town Hall!" He yelled.
We tried getting past everyone, but we were being pushed back and forth between them.
***
After getting out of the crowd, we rushed to the train station, getting on, we left our bags and other stuff behind. Why was Byul bringing a gun, I wondered.
Passengers stared at the gun for a long time. I could see Miko and some other students in the train cabin behind us.
***
Home. We were back again. It actually felt nice to be back to this... dump.
We rushed to the town hall, but the door was locked.
Miko held his breath and rammed into the door. It swung off the hinges and granted us entrance, to which Miko rushed inside right away. We followed cautiously.
Something wasn't right.
The air smelt of blood, everyone in the building was gone.
We rushed to Imode's office and opened the door quickly. On the floor was Imode, and sitting in her desk was the Vice-President.
Imode was breathing, but they were labored breaths. She wouldn't live much longer without medical attention. Markus and I rushed in, pulling her out of the room.
The vice-president shot some kind of gun near us, just as we escaped the room.
"So... it was true." Miko said, sounding disappointed. "Moraco... Teacher..."