It's cold
That was the only thing on my mind. I rubbed my hands together trying to get feeling in my numb fingers. My breath comes out in visible clouds. It was the middle of winter, the only thing good about winter was that the cold made the Skars slightly less active. But to be honest the trade off wasn't worth it in my opinion. It's not like I wasn't dressed for the weather, it was just that cold. It didn't help that I haven't been able to find a proper pair of gloves either. I was in an old worn down apartment complex, looking out the window off the third story. Watching the morning sunlight roll over the ruined city, slowly but surely illuminating all the darkness of the city. I looked up at the grey sky and saw three giant birds flying, these were roughly the size of pickup trucks. Hawk Skars….they're moving east, I wonder if their migrating? Hawk Skars were pretty much Hawks, except their feathers were grey and their eyes were violet. They were also huge, I never want to deal with those guys again.
Just then something caught my attention. It was from the corner of my eye but I definitely noticed movement. Was it a Skar? I crouch down a little more and peek out the window. I see two human shaped figures moving. From their height it looked like one adult and one kid.
"People!"
I whispered to myself, I haven't seen another person in over a year. Why are they walking around in the open like that? I pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at them closely.
Their clothes look…..nice. Not in a fashionable sort of way but in a maintenance sort of way. They looked like they were wearing new clothes. Where did they get new clothes from? I'm new to this sector of the city but I did hit the local mall already and there definitely weren't any new clothes there. I was currently located in the eastern side of the downtown area of this mega city. That being said there were plenty of buildings, including stores and skyscrapers and this apartment complex. A lot of these buildings were falling apart, quite literally. There are some with entire sections missing from the war during the early years of the Skar invasion. Even though destruction throughout the city was evident there was also a sense of life to it. With there being no people to manage it, wildlife started growing throughout the city. You couldn't find a building that didn't have vines crawling down it, plant life was abundant all around. With the Skars adding their own unique genes to the mix, new and mutated plant life has started growing. Some of it was looking downright alien while others had simple changes like the mega trees that could grow as tall as some of the skyscrapers.
The two that Luke was observing had stopped by one of the buildings at the corner of an intersection.
"What are they doing?" It was then that one of them started drinking something from a bottle, and the child was taking out some sort of food to eat. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. These people were taking a snack break in the middle of the road? Are they insane? I was getting nervous just looking at them, they were about a hundred meters away from me but I still couldn't shake this uneasy feeling that they were going to bring trouble.
"I should get further away from them."
I stepped away from the window and started making my way towards the door. Right when my hand gripped the knob was when I heard it. A loud high pitched screech. Oh god, please don't tell me that is what I think it is. I rushed to the window and brought the binoculars to my eyes. I saw the pair running towards my direction, now that they were running their faces became more visible. I could clearly see that the adult one was a woman and the younger one was just a little girl. A mother and daughter? Wait, that doesn't matter right now. Those idiots just attracted those monsters, I need to run. I ran out of the room I was in and quickly made my way to the ground floor. As I was about to make my way to the back of the building I heard the little girl scream. I freeze, I remember when my younger sister screamed exactly the same way. I remember what happened right after. I tighten my fists and clench my teeth.
"Dammit!"
I turn around and run towards the front of the building. I make my way to the door and swing it open, I grab one of the short rods strapped to my back and press a button on its side. This extends its length by six feet, with the end pointed it effectively became a long spear. I see the little girl on the floor clutching her left ankle. The Mom was standing in front of the girl holding a pistol and aiming it at the creature in front of her. The creature had a humanoid shape but was undoubtedly a monster. Where its eyes were supposed to be were just two black holes. It had two open slits where it's nose would've been. Its body was leathery and smooth but had a sickly grey color. Its fingers were unnaturally long and at the end of them were just as long claws. It walked on two legs and was roughly six feet tall. It wasn't bulky but it was by no means skinny. The muscles on its body were clearly visible, showing through its skin. Its teeth were all sharp and its mouth constantly hung open with drool oozing out.
I started running towards the mother and child. "Don't shoot it!" I was only a few feet away from them at this point but the creature decided to sprint at them at that moment. The mother shot four times at it, only one hit piercing it in the shoulder. But that wasn't enough to bring it down or even slow it down as it kept charging at them.
"Shit!"
I placed myself between the pair and the creature. I tucked my spear close to my body and then thrusted it forward. The spear pierced the creature's throat. I swung my spear to the side, flinging the creature towards a wall belonging to one of the buildings. I then ran up to it and stabbed it one more time in the chest. The creature's body spasmed a few more times before drawing its last breath. After making sure the creature was dead I made my way towards the mother and daughter. Maybe because I was glaring at them that the mother stood protectively in front of her daughter.
"Do you have any idea what you two have done? Not only did you decide to have a little picnic in the middle of the road but you also shot a gun which just let every ghoul in a five mile radius know we're here." I spat out.
"Ghoul?" the woman looked at the ghoul I just killed, "they really exist…".
"Of course they exist, what kind of question is that?"
The woman looked up at me in shock before furrowing her brows.
"I don't know who you think you are but you can't talk to me like that kid."
"Excuse me?"
"I am an adult and you're what? A teenager?"
What kind of nonsense was this woman saying? Who cares if she's older than me she obviously isn't skilled in defending herself or making basic survival choices.
"I just saved your life because of you doing multiple stupid things, and im suppose to talk to you respectfully?" I pulled back the hood that was resting on my head this whole time and glared at the woman. I pointed at the girl who was still cowering behind her, "If you want that girl to live until evening get your shit together, the way you're going right now you'll attract every Skar in the city."
The woman just looked at me with a shocked expression. Was what I said that harsh?
"You….you're….."
She took a couple steps closer to me as if to get a better look at my face.
"Luke?"
My heart immediately dropped. How did this woman know my name? I clenched the spear I had in my hand firmly as the woman kept taking steps closer to me. Just as she was a few feet away from me I swiftly brought up my spear, the tip was inches away from her neck.
"MOM!" the little girl yelled, but i couldn't be bothered by that right now. The woman froze in place, eyes wide in shock. I spoke in a low but deep voice, making it clear that I wasn't in the mood for any bullshit.
"How do you know my name?" the woman swallowed once before answering
"Trina….i..i..am a good friend of Trina's, My name is Allison, does that jog your memory at all?".
My eyes begin to widen in surprise. "Trina?....my mom?" I squinted my eyes studying allisons face more, she did look a little familiar…I lowered my spear.
"Did you work at the same chemical lab as my mom?" Allison's expression brightened,
"Yes! I visited your house a few times too!"
This woman was indeed an old friend of my mom. I can remember clearly now. Shit now I feel bad.
A high pitch screech jogged me from my daze, it was a bit aways but still too close for comfort.
"We need to go, like right now."
I collapsed my spear till it was a small rod again and strapped it to my back.
"My daughter can't walk on that ankle, can't we hide in one of the buildings."
I pause for a moment then make my way to the little girl.
"No, those things have a very good sense of smell, they'll find us."
I kneel down in front of the girl with my back facing her.
"Hop on kid, i'll carry you." The girl looked at Allison, Allison nodded at her. The kid reluctantly grabbed onto me, I stood up and started walking.
"Where will we go?"
"We'll head west, if we keep walking for about a mile we'll reach Hawk Skar territory. The ghouls won't follow us there. As long as we don't make any loud noises and don't walk down the middle of the road then the Hawk Skars won't notice us."
"Ok…."
"I know you have a lot of questions and frankly so do I, but we need to find somewhere safe to treat her injury first, then we'll talk."
We walked in silence after that. Though I remember her vaguely, I remember Allison always being kind to my mother. That's why I'm a little more relaxed than before, but there were still a lot of things that didn't make sense with these two. Their clothes, her having a gun and NOT knowing how to use it. Also her encounter with the ghoul, it was as if it was her first time seeing one. Even though they're pretty common pretty much everywhere. I had many questions, and I intend on asking them all once we find a safe place to camp.