Jamal was sleeping, his girlfriend was out as well, not making a sound later that night. Or so she thought he was. Turning around, he noticed she was still asleep and he carefully got out of bed. Creeping aside, he turned the door quietly, before closing it softly.
"Jamal?" a younger boy asked him.
He turned around, to see Brat, a bandage covering one of his eyes.
"What happened to you?" he asked him.
"Someone almost took my eye out. But I'll be good, because of those healing powers!" he grinned.
"How'd you even get in here?" he said, before figuring out the answer, "The money."
"Yeah, it's just me though. I don't know where Hops or Fonda is at. Can't believe I'm experiencing my first war. That's so cool!" he grinned.
"That's not suppose to be cool! These are hard times now!" he muttered to him, "And besides, Ula is trying to sleep."
"Ula's in there? I got to say hello!" he walked towards the door, preparing to knock.
"Don't." he said through his teeth, bringing him back, "Plus I'll need you for something. Follow me."
They walked down the stairs and past the counter with no one in sight. He could have probably searched around for extra money lying around, but it was becoming worthless by the minute. As soon as they walked outdoors, he could hear screams in the distance, as people were breaking into windows and taking the things from inside. The place was already being looted, at least this part but probably everywhere else. The country was falling apart faster than someone tripping themselves.
"Come on. Let's see if something is open around here." he said, taking off his brace.
"Won't you probably need that?" Brat eyed at it.
"Not anymore." he said, lighting it on fire, before discarding it on the side of the street, as his back was feeling much better.
They walked around, until Jamal found what he was looking for. It was a floral shop.
"Why are we here? I don't get it." Brat muttered, until figuring it out. "Oh, never mind. By why are we wasting money here, when we can spend half of what we got for a day's meal with what's going on?"
"Because, before this nation collapses completely, I need to get something for Ula. And would you look at that, paying 3,000 Saputs for three roses. This is pitiful." Jamal said with distaste, opening the door besides him.
"Oh, back away, I'm not afraid to hurt you!" an old man's voice cried out from inside, before screaming and a noise could be heard.
Jamal threw the roses into Brat's hands and pointed for him to stay still. He walked deeper into the store, igniting his hands as he looked around. He saw a door in the back of the establishment, and was in the direction of the noise. Opening it, he almost threw up. There was that man's body, his eyes staring in the ceiling and blood leaking from his mouth. There was a large hole in his body with the blood leaking around it, and he could see the outline of the remaining guts inside. An open door was in front of him, that led into an alley.
He quickly turned around, and began checking the drawers inside the room, untouched. Jamal grabbed several old coins and shoved them in his pockets, hoping to sell them for some quick cash. He rushed back to the front, where Brat was just staring around, grabbing as many flowers as he could.
"How much will this al-" he began to ask.
"It's free, let's go." Jamal said with urgency, barging open the door.
Brat chased behind him, and then quickly came back to the hotel, the chaos coming closer to it. He rushed to his room and fiddled with the key he grabbed before leaving, waving goodbye at Brat. Slamming the door behind him and bolting it shut, he turned around to see Ula staring at him.
"Where did you go?" she said, before he swiftly handed the flowers.
"I got you those before the world begins to collapse, and do not go outside." he said, closing the slidable door that lead to the balcony.
"Jamal, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Everything. Saputa is fading away. People are dying out there, stores being looted. It's bad out there and I'm glad you didn't come with me. I just saw a dead man's body in a store."
"What do we do?" she looked at him, with worry, touching his cheek.
"We stay put until the morning and get out of this section of the city. We won't make it living here. Brat's also staying here, but we can find him in the morning."
"You didn't have to do all of this for me, Jamal. It wasn't necessary."
"I know, but I needed to do this before the situation gets worst." he said, before kissing her.
She put the flowers down, as they fell on the bed, continuing to make out. She sighed with relief as she pulled him back to her when he was about to back up. He didn't move as they kissed for several more minutes, deep in thought with one another. She was beginning to pull his shirt off, when a boom from downstairs stopped her. She let him go, as he got back up and he unbolted and creaked open the door slightly, before closing it back shut.
"Yeah, change of plans. We're leaving today and right now." he told her, quickly picking up her belongings.
"What do you mean?" she asked, getting up from the bed.
"The people are raiding the building. We going to get out from the back, as I saw another exit there." he said, shoving her belongings in her bag, and taking out the gloves from the box, before throwing the box to the side, and he let it light up and reshape into his hands.
She just nodded, as she grabbed the bag and he opened the door, a fireball formed, waiting to be launched at anyone. No one was upstairs yet, and he could hear ruffling underneath him, and he quickly ran across the hallway, breaking down the door at the exit, and rushed down the stairs, Ula following suit.
"What about Brat?" she yelled behind him, once they were outside.
"I'll get him. You protect yourself." he told her, before entering the building again.
He crept through the hallway, and knocked on each door quietly, most with no response. Reaching about four doors away from the room they were staying in, he knocked again, this time Brat looking at him, his one eye showing drooping with exhaustion.
"We got to go, so I'll get your belongings and you go to the exit in the back." he told him, shoving him out the room.
Brat didn't wait or object and ran out the door, as Jamal grabbed as much as he could. He heard a noise behind him, to see a man with little teeth left, staring at him, holding a pipe. In fright, he quickly formed a fireball and launched it at the man. The little-toothed man opened his mouth in awe, as it pushed him through a wall, lighting the edges around it.
Jamal grabbed the stuff he got out, and ran back outside, ignoring the growing fire. He handed Brat's belongings to him, and grabbed Ula's hand.
"Ok, we're going to go back to where the carriages were." he said, as they rushed back onto the main road, people running out of the hotel, the fire spreading outwards and tearing down the building.
"Did you do that?" Ula pointed at it.
"It was getting looted anyway. Plus, we don't have to worry." he replied, not looking back, as Saputan soldiers passed by them, rushing towards the action.
They hurried down the road, as chaos was spreading around them, as they crossed the trench, with a few soldiers still milling around and keeping watch. It took them several minutes, but when they had returned, most of the carriages were gone, and only a few were still laying around. Jamal walked up to each one, peering inside, to see those with people in them, until he found an empty one.
"Get in." he told them.
"This seems much safer than the hotel, definitely doesn't look like anyone would loot here." she sarcastically said to Jamal.
Jamal just smirked at her, until Brat bumped into him and causing him to lose his thought. Once inside, he locked the door and looked around. There were only two cots inside, which meant one of them would have to sleep on the floor.
"I'll keep watch. Don't worry about me." he said, fishing into Ula's stuff until he found his food from the diner, still cold.
They watched, as he heated up the package, causing it to smoke.
"Can't you cook that outside?" Brat said with a cough.
"Fine." he grumbled and opened the door.
He continued heating it up, until he tested it was just right and ate in silence, watching parts of the city on fire in the distance. This was going to be their life until they got out of here, he knew. And with Youden coming, he didn't have a plan. He would come up with and find the others. They weren't going to die like this, in suffering, but they would have to rise up and persist the struggles the world was throwing at them.