Carla tossed and turned in her sleep, caught in the grip of a vivid dream. In it, she and Aoto were running through a meadow, laughing and playing like they used to when they were kids. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the world was perfect. As they ran, they came across a stream, and Aoto dared Carla to jump in. Without hesitation, Carla plunged into the cool, clear water, feeling the adrenaline rush as she raised her head from the water with a toothy grin! Of course, Aoto followed suit, like a dog chasing his favorite person, and they splashed and played for what felt like hours.
Eventually, they had begun to tire themselves out, collapsing onto the grassy bank of the stream as they gazed skyward at the fluffy white clouds drifting lazily overhead. Carla felt a sense of contentment wash over her, and she knew that she never wanted to leave this idyllic paradise. But as she closed her eyes to savor the moment, she appeared in another memory of Her and Aoto, they were watching the final match of a tournament from a window inside of Carla's house. Carla looked around frantically, where did the stream go? They were at the town mayor''s house? How..
"Hey! Earth to Alona! Cmon' snap out of it, the match is about to start!" Aoto hopped up and down on the sash of the window, eagerly waiting for the horn to sound!
That's right, this was a dream. Carla had no control over it though, even as she realized as such. Her gaze had panned over to the arena, she loathed the idea of an individual throwing her life away now, but back then it seemed quite..natural? Not that it'd matter now, she was older, she couldn't play like this anymore, even if she held the longing. Carla's eyes panned once more to Aoto's brilliant smile, mocking a squint at the blinding radiance of the young boy and giving her own, placid smile.
"Fine~ I wasn't paying attention to the last few rounds, who are these people?" Carla Iquired, it seemed as though she was reliving an extremely old memory, so she had no idea of what had been going on exactly…
The young Aoto responded with an exaggerated shrug, right. If she didn't remember, neither would he. But the fight itself is something she remembered vividly, it was the beginning of a second layer of hell she and Aoto had the misfortune of being a part of.
The two fighters glared at each other from opposite sides of the ring, each sizing up the other's strengths and weaknesses. Sweat glistened on their muscles, the only sound was the rasping of their breath. To Carla, it looked like a scene straight from an old action movie. Why were they sitting for so long instead of going in for the kill instantly? Perhaps they'd fought before this, but they would've had to take a competition break shortly before this right?
Suddenly, without leaving Carla enough time to ponder, the first fighter charged forward, his fists balled and ready to strike, he dashed forward and sent a heavy punch over toward the head, sending the second one staggering backward before he continued with a flurry of swings! The second fighter, barely dazed, managed to dodge the barrage, grabbing the first fighter's arm and slamming him into the wall, beginning his counter with a punch to the wrist and an attempted headbutt that resulted in a strong connection with the wall.
Since the first fighter wasn't done yet, he regained his footing and launched a fierce counterattack, kicking the second one in his knee, bringing him down to one, and punching the second fighter right in the chest, spinning around and aiming to axe kick the second's shoulder, though was hit with a ferocious counter to the mid-section!
Sweat flew from their foreheads as they grappled onto each other, trying to gain the upper hand. The crowd cheered and shouted as the fight raged, but Carla seemed a bit nervous. Right, at the time, this would be the younger Alona–er, Carla's first time spectating something like this. Her father would've let her go, he would've even encouraged it, but Carla didn't find anything of the sort too interesting, she found it barbaric.
Both of the fighters had been pushing themselves to the limit, but ultimately, it was the second fighter who won. He had kicked off the wall, landing a soul-shattering kick to the first fighter's head, knocking them to the ground and leaving them dazed. Around this time, Aoto faced toward the wall and covered his eyes. As a young girl, Carla had not the slightest idea of what was happening or why he did that, because she figured the fight was already over. Unfortunately, the reason was as simple as Aoto not wanting to see blood spilt.
The second fighter didn't hesitate, he grabbed the first one's hair, placing his foot on the other's back as the second fighter's scream was drowned out by the roars of the crowd, but Carla could hear it very clearly, she could hear a lot of things. Exhausted, the second fighter raised their fists in victory as the crowd roared and cheered. It had been a hard-fought battle, but in the end, they had emerged victorious, and he marked his victory with a slow, struggling tear of the first fighter's head! The bursts of blood squirting from the muscle. Even now, the mere sight of what the town did for sport had sickened her, her stomach felt like it was twisting and turning.
Aoto, clearly spotting this, had picked the young Carla up by her waist, hugging her from the side as he spun her around! It worked to an extent, causing Carla to give a feeble smile, his silliness was slightly comforting, but couldn't shake the feeling of blood on her hands, though she wasn't in the fight..
"Alona! You're spacing out like a fish, anymore stress and your pretty blue hair will turn into pretty white hair!" Aoto chirped, swinging her one last time before gently placing Carla in a seat on the window. He placed his hands on his knees as he held his infectious smile once again, causing Carla to allow herself to present her own smile. Was Aoto always so sweet? Was he this sweet in the present?
"Anyway, you shouldn't worry too much about the tournament. I don't think Mr. Mei will allow you to register." Aoto rubbed his neck, a meek smile on his face. Not even he knew if that's where the cruelty would halt. "And even if we did, as long as I insist we're together, I can protect you!"
"You can?" Carla tilted her head in mock surprise at this point in time Aoto had been playing the part of a warrior, but had never gotten into a fight before. Even now, he was going based off of what he'd seen beforehand in previous tournaments and duels. He'd never been in an actual fight. That was why she'd been so surprised about the hoard incident, he had strength,m but Aoto didn't exactly have any technique besides punching and kicking when under pressure.
"Of course! I'm super good at fighting! I'm the best in the world, see?" Aoto threw his arms up, showing his usual irresistible smile. Aoto mimicked boxing movements as he shifted from foot to foot, in the moment, Carla would've figured he was actually pretty good at fighting. " I'll be able to protect your pretty smile and the townsfolk as well! You'll never even have to think about picking a weapon up, see?" He exclaimed with a loud echo following afterwards through the nearly empty home. It was ironic, because in the future, he had failed at all three of those tasks.
Carla's eyes flew open, and she realized with a sickening sense of dread that she was still in the middle of the apocalypse. The world was cold and gray, and the air had a strange stench that only she seemed to know. The stench of grief.
Carla could hear sniffing in the distance, she could snuff out that it was likely Himari. Carla rose to her feet, shaking off the remnants of her dream. Someone must've carried her, right? There's no way she was just teleported to this mat by herself. Carla began to slowly walk around in search for any signs of life beyond her own. There was a chance that chaos would've happened at the station while she was out.
What happened to her mom? How did she end up here? There were a hundred questions flowing through her mind, all of which pointed to one big question, one in which she'd genuinely been dying to know. Carla turned the corner as the question rang loud in her head, just where was Aoto?
"Look who's awake" Higa looked over at her troubled expression, he wasn't able to find any food at all. They'd been walking around in circles this whole time. "Are you looking for Aoto or Angelica? Either way, one is dead and the other went to split and look for food, you figure which is which, princess." His voice had a sting of venom laced within them, one that ticked Carla off.
Carla looked around, trying to see if anyone else had been around to hear or see her. "Unfortunately you weren't a part of the two, Scalebag. Shouldn't a lying snake like you be rotting in a burrow somewhere? It's strange how some two-faced newt like you would have the nerve to live among us humans. Was deceiving Eve not enough" Carla scoffed scornfully, her hand raising to her mouth in a sardonic expression.
Higa followed with his own scoff, making a stride over to the blue haired maiden and lifting her chin with his index. The grip felt as though, like Carla had been jabbing at, a snake was coiling around her. He leaned down and whispered deceptively, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke. "Oh cry me a river, I'm only here because of you, right? You took my home away, so you don't get to walk around poking you chest out like you own the world. You're just gravel, along with the rest of us, Alona~. Or is it 'Carla' now? I tend to forget." Higa rolled the us, almost as though he intended to mock the snake comment Carla had been making.
Carla slapped his hand away, a look of pure disgust etched on her face as she was surprised such a filthy creature like him would even have the nerve to approach her, let alone whisper toward her. Keeping that same expression, she whipped around and walked off to wherever was far away from Higa. That boy infuriated her. To such an extent in fact, that she could trace his habitual intent for lying anywhere.
Carla found herself subconsciously trailing toward the sound of sniffing, her guess was Himari would've been searching for food as well. At the very least, she'd be much more pleasant to speak with. Stopping dead in her tracks, she readied herself to go back to her usual persona, her "Carla" persona. At this moment, she seemed like nothing more than a copy of Higa, a liar and a cheat, someone who hid her identity in order to escape accountability. Her trace led her to a garden. But it was filled with roses, if she took one step in that room, she'd be a goner, but then where was Himari?
Carla's eyes traced around the room for a moment, no living creature should've been able to exist within this area, none at all but…the distinct sound of the fluttering of wings had invaded her ears. Why would she hear this? How was she hearing this well? Carla shook her head and went and ran after the butterflies, the fluttering becoming more intense with each step she took! More butterflies started to increase, and the fluttering noises had become even louder than before! Her pupils had begun to spiral a little as the noise increased, but suddenly…the noises stopped.
The butterfly she'd been chasing had landed gently on Himari's nose, the sun beaming onto her face like a goddess, and the butterflies had only seemed to increase the magnitude of god-like flow. The noise that had been harassing her ears had shifted to the tedious sound of feasting. Initially, it'd been driving her insane, but each of them had been quiet, the silence was palpable. Himari brushed a strand of her butterscotch hair from her face, the sclera of her eyes bleeding black as she took a deep breath.
Carla stepped back a bit, weary of the situation! Carla searched for any potential exits, but everywhere except the entrance. Taking a few more steps away, she grabbed onto the handle, Carla was just making sure she could escape in case things went south. "H-Himari? Y-Y-You're here..? Right?" Carla gripped the handle even more, heedful of the situation.
Himari gave a reassuring smile at the somewhat squirmish girl, waving the butterflies away and beckoning Carla over! Silence had ensued in the area, but it was quickly crumbled by the gentle voice of Himari! "Sorry, did I scare you? I saw these guys circling around while I was searching for food! They were pretty slow in flying, and it took a few of them but they eventually picked me up and carried me here! "
Himari jumped a little in surprise as one of them returned and landed on her neck, the fluttering noises were still hushed, which means Carla could've been ambushed by these things. Was Himari infected? Was she insane? It was crazy, she sounded normal, and looked normal, but her eyes were…swirling. Like she was going insane. Usually they'd have no way to know except through body language or certain habits, but never any real visual changes! Carla felt her mind slipping through the endless sound of flutters earlier, could it be the wave had made them more prone to dementedness?
While Carla was thinking, it seemed Himari was still going on with her talking! As per usual, she was bound to analyze anything she got her hands on! "They differ from your stereotypical butterflies, being carnivorous at heart! It seemed as though they were mutated, and feeding off of me had given them a lot of energy! They must've been starving, it has been a few days after all…" Himari scrutinized the butterflies, there were several effects on her as well, but she didn't feel the need to tell Carla, it wasn't one of her desire's.
Carla looked near Himari, there seemed to be a large collection of goods and non-perishable items. How could she have carried them all? Did the butterflies help her? She walked over and grabbed as many as she could carry., looking up at Himari as she batted her eyelashes, almost as if she was asking for help without wanting to open her mouth! Carla's stomach was rumbling already, and she knew she needed to find the bastard to help her carry everything back to the main area. They would also need a mode of transportation.
Carla quickly carried over the different assortment of items she had grabbed, watching as Himari followed suit. Each butterfly had, as expected, had been carrying a bit of the baggage along with her! It was as though she never forced the butterflies to do any real labor, treating them as friends rather than something she held dominion over. WHat was confusing to Carla was why exactly they had been listening to her?
If Himari wasn't turned into a zombie, then why would the mutated creatures follow her orders as though she'd been…a queen? No, no way, she was completely human so that couldn't be the case! All Himari did was feed a few hundred, and they were taking blood out of her not giving anything to her!
"H-Hey Higa, You won't believe what I found." Carla faked a gloat, mocking at how she'd recovered more food than him even as she'd just woken up, how humorous the situation was to her!
"I-I-I found a bunch of food with H-Himari, be a dear and come to help me carry it back?" Carla's voice was filled with a masked contempt, her tone had the utmost arrogance, but was masked with the facade of innocent pleas. "They aren't much, just some snacks that we took, maybe Himari found them smuggled? Anyway, I think there should be more in the warehouse! Go fetch them!"
"Thank goodness, Carla. I was starting to worry. Of course, I'll be there in a sec." Gave his own, unbothered smile, his eyes seeming to pierce straight through Carla, which caused her to jump a bit! They stood in front of each other with a glare, before a loud crash was heard! Like chains crashing down!
"I cracked open one of the warehouse locks! There's a combat vehicle in here! A few of them actually, we can use these to pack up the food and leave!" Himari yelled from what sounded like outside? Higa had a hint of surprise on his face as he'd heard her voice, why was she out there? Did she have a death wish or something? He took a stride out there, sticking his head out the building they were in, checking for any zombies, but the place seemed entirely deserted! Even worse than usual..
Higa made his way over to the sound of Himari's voice as she continued to yell, she wasn't particularly far away, though it felt as if everything around him had begun to muffle. Higa halted his steps, stopping at the storage! They didn't appear to be damaged in any way shape or form, just the lock and chains were taken off? "You sure these babies are all full? I don't want us to break down in the middle of nowhere" Higa walked inside of the warehouse, knocking on a few of the vehicles.
"I'd like to think so, we can't always think of everything in dark tinted glasses!" Himari knocked on a car of her own, they should be able to find the keys somewhere, but where..?
As she waited for Liam to arrive, Carla sat down and took a deep breath, her mind swirling with all kinds of different thoughts and sounds. 'One's searching for food and the oher's dead'? WHat was he talking about? Himari seemed to be safe and sound, so was he referring to Aoto..? But then why would he be so pleased to deliver that information? Was he just fucking with her? No, Carla could snuff out his lies rather quickly, at first glance actually, so maybe he did believe Aoto was dead…then does that mean it was actually because of her?
She heard the sound of wheels grinding on the sand as the sounds seemed close! It didn't, however, sound as though it was slowing down to park at all! Carla tensed up, her eyes spiralling as she kicked back! Her ears began to strain as the sound of the driving had gotten so intensely loud that it had crumbled into nothing more than calamity. The sound was earth-shattering and deafening, but she couldn't cover her ears, she didn't have the chance!
All she could think about, all she could imagine was every scenario that could've happened, maybe she didn't patch his wound up correctly at her mom's, or perhaps the blood had gotten to his system? That would mean prolonged exposure would've killed him, which means she was next! Or maybe something had happened with her mom—Where's her mom?!
Maybe the wound had nothing to do with it, maybe she was just too late! Maybe he's rotting away with each word she thought, and it was entirely her fault.
A car rammed into the building, snapping Carla quickly out of her daze as her eyes widened at the preposterous scene in front of her!
"Get in!" Himari waved, cheering with a peppy tone in her voice. "Come aboard the Himari Express!"
The ginger woman brushed her hair from her face, Higa was hanging tightly on the side of the car like a startled cat, which honestly concerned her? Was Himari high? Carla shook her head, the millions of scenarios had melted away at the sight of her friends, maybe Higa is just a flimsy liar.
"H-Himari!, what the heck is going o-on?!" Carla chirped in mock confusion, sliding into the combat card and made herself comfortable. She leaned on the car window, her eyes feeling heavy as Carla felt in her heart that maybe Aoto was okay…After all, he was still the brave and cool kid who had lit her world up from the dingy and dirty bunker she was imprisoned in. He was her weak hero.
Higa rolled out the car, gripping his chest as though he was going to throw up! After composing himself, he went to the pile and began throwing the food into the car. This would take quite a bit of time, but nobody else wanted to leave the car, Carla didn't like Higa, and Himari was still out of it, the more blood she lost the more the butterflies replaced her blood with their own! It was totally melting her brain! Carla swatted away some of the butterflies, leaving a minority of them who had still been biting Himari as to not hurt her in the process.
The question did seem to bug her, however. Everyone was here but Aoto, and all the materials were being gathered, the vehicle even had its own weapons, so where had Aoto gone off? Carla crossed her legs and sat back, her foot bouncing up and down as she would try and slither a question through the silence. "So~, I noticed only the three are here…w-where's Aoto..?"
The relaxed energy seemed to wilt immediately like a rotting rose. The butterflies that'd been feeding had died and their wings fell onto the car floor. Himari's sclera had returned to normal, and her breath had tightened! Like the world had made an effort to wrap its hands around her throat in an attempt to hush the next words to escape her lips. Himari had a despondent expression on her face, her eyes turning away from Carla entirely!
"Aoto..?" Himari aimed to speak but was cut off by the sight of Carla on the verge of tears, she knew what the answer was going to be based on the way Himari reacted. Himari swallowed a lump in her throat, placing her hands on the wheel to avoid speaking any further on the situation. "W-we think he's gon–"
"Is this a joke? If this is, it's one sick one…" Carla's voice was shaky and cold, there was no way this could be true, right? Carla made her best attempt to find solace in her delusion. Carla reached over to Himari's shoulder, begging for someone to feed into them.
Himari stayed silent, her lip quivering slightly at the very thought of the speed in which Aoto vanished, before just resting her head on the wheel. Reality was too harsh for her to process at the moment, she wanted to rest.
An impossibly lengthful silence had ensured. Nobody bothered to speak, they didn't want to face an impossible truth in which someone in their group was picked off in less than a couple of days. Everyone treated it as though it was a tragedy, it was only appropriate, right?
"You just realized how deep in hell that man went? Now this is humor~" Higa snared, peeking from the trunk of the car as he whispered low enough for only Carla to hear. Bags of food were stacked high, with just barely enough space for him to peek through, a mocking grin on his face, sticking out his tongue soon after.
"You think that's funny? This is all just some sort of joke to you, huh?" Carla said dejectedly, whipping around and gripping the car seat as though she aimed to jump back and strangle the man. Carla's glare was so hot, you'd think it would have burned a hole in all of the bags and ruined the food! She was livid, not wanting to play the snake's game at the moment.
"It's not funny, it's actually pretty hilarious!" Higa riposted, shaking his head in a derisive motion, "The one you cared for so much… all just to be gone in the blink of an eye! Nothing can get more hilarious than that, Alona~!" Higa snorted, closing the trunk and getting into the passenger seat. They had sat in that one place for a moment, the silence was so thick you could split it like a log.
Eventually, the car did start up. Himari rolled the windows down, the air felt oppressive to her, like her chest would cave in if she couldn't breathe the way she wanted. However, all she could smell was the rotten stench of regret.
This must've been what the end smelled like.