Jamal was out until his head bumped the ground, and he jolted back up. He was up all night, hearing the buzzing of those machines flying overhead, but never dropped anything. He didn't even know how long he was out for, but remembered dozing off when it was still dark, but felt slightly energized. As his head began to clear, he noticed a dark shape in the distance in the sky. They still couldn't be scouting or whatever they were doing, right, he questioned, as he slowly got back up. He watched as it slowly got closer, and then made a sharp turn. It's probably scouting again, he thought, as he opened the carriage door.
Ula and Brat were playing a game of cards inside, passing the time.
"Y'all playing without me?" Jamal said, sitting down next to Ula.
"I'm good at this game. So simple." Brat commented, just winning another round.
"He is very good and I'm impressed. How was the outdoors, 'cause you never came back in?" Ula added, shuffling the cards.
"Not too bad, it was quite nice out there. I saw some of those flying machines again."
"Did you? Cause last I saw, you were sleeping." she chuckled.
"I was not! I was just closing my eyes for a bit." he laughed.
At that moment, a loud boom was heard, and the carriage shook.
"What was that?" Brat asked, with the cards all over the floor now.
"Must be the war and some fighting. Stay inside." Jamal told them, as he walked back outside.
A large explosion could be seen, as well as several more of those flying machines. He watched as they flew over the city, and hatches opened up, dropping their contents out of it. Only a few more seconds later, more explosions had occurred. The city was under attack.
"Guys! We are under attack!" he cried out.
"Of course we are! This is war! Some awesome action waiting to happen!" Brat laughed.
"No, Brat, this is actually bad. People are going to die." Ula calmly told him.
"We got to dip. Get your stuff guys," Jamal said, keeping watch of the action.
Ula and Brat grabbed everything they had brought from the night before, and they hurried out.
"Why don't we go somewhere with no action and abandoned? Like those houses over there?" Brat announced, pointing at some old farmhouses past a field.
They didn't question his decision, as they ran towards one of them and up its steps before Jamal broke the door down. It was dusty and ruined inside, and Jamal had to come back to where the door remained to breathe. Looking around, it seemed as if it had been in these conditions for several years, as there was debris everywhere and unknown creatures moving about inside.
"I'll just be at the steps of this place," Jamal told them as he went back outside, watching the explosions continue from afar.
He kept staring at it for almost an hour until he saw the machines fly away, and no more were coming as far as he could see. Much of the downtown city was on fire and was bombarded heavily. It would be a miracle to recover from this, and the thought made him ball his fists. Jamal couldn't do much, as he was still recovering from his injuries, but it would be hard to escape from here. They had to leave tomorrow, and he would find someone that would take them to the coast.
"Well, that's a rough morning we had, huh?" Ula walked down, and sat down next to him, leaving Brat to explore the building.
"Yeah, this is insane. When did the enemies get this much power? I don't even want to know what's on the island chain. Our nation is gone, Ula. We can't take this on. It's over." Jamal looked down at the ground.
"You know, I think that's what Youden would want the country to think. This isn't the end. We'll find a way and move onward. That's what our leaders will want us to think." she calmly told him.
But he wasn't convinced. He saw what they did, without powers. When did machines get stronger than that? They didn't and he knew Ula was aware of this. She needed to just admit the truth to him.
"Do you really believe that? And be honest," he said, looking at her.
Her expression turned glum, and he knew she was lying. It wasn't that hard to figure out.
"You don't have to lie to me, Ula. No need to pretend anymore. We both knew it was over when we saw what those machines did to the capital."
She could only nod, as she just buried her face into his shirt, as he could fell trickles of water. He knew it was a sad moment, but they would have to be strong until they got out of here.
"It isn't over. I'll make sure we get out of here. I swear." he said, as she looked into him before he kissed her briefly.
When he parted, Jamal noticed a soft smile from her and grinned. He always knew that he would have to step up in situations like these, and now was one of those moments.
"Hey, guys! Check this out!" Brat yelled from inside.
He nodded towards her, as he went inside the musty building. He followed the ruffling of Brat's curiosity until he found him holding a piece of paper.
"It's thirty years old! Probably when the owners left the place. I can barely read it." he grumbled, pretending to study it intensely.
Jamal grabbed it from his hands and read it. It was almost illegible, but he could make out most of the words on the paper. Something about giving the house away to a family with the last name of Qey. The names were weird enough, but he was curious to what had happened, and who was this family.
"Nothing but old papers, Brat. But it is a good find though. You can grab what you like, but we're going to get out of here. The machines left now." Jamal announced, "We're going to leave here."