For another mile gravel crunched under Domison's feet, before giving way to asphalt at an intersection. The road ahead continued straight to the city, while an old highway ran perpendicular. Automobiles varying in model and size were abandoned alongside the roadways, as though the drivers had escaped them in a rush. Not everyone had the wherewithal to move quickly however as the view inside some of the vehicles' cabins had been obscured by dried blood and viscera.
Though he had passed several places denoting battle and death, he rarely came across concrete evidence of any life remaining in the area. Whether it be the monstrous Naxkrupe or any surviving humans. Although Domison very much doubted any survivors would be roaming the streets after all the horror they must have witnessed by this point. Domison's hand gripped tighter around the handle of his sword as he slunk between a car and a truck that seemed to have collided some time prior.
The truck must have been struck from the left side driver door as the vehicle seemed to cave in on itself, but the car had been separated from the larger vehicle at some point. This worried Domison when he noticed the punctures and torn metal decorating the hood of the smaller automobile. 'I'm pretty sure that was caused by those scythe arms.' Domison thought to himself as he lifted his sword into a ready stance, the blade hovering above his right shoulder as he gripped it with both hands. As the man rounded the short hood of the coupe, a deformed body attempted to lunge at him.
Domison stepped back in surprise, slicing his sword across his front as he retreated slightly. When nothing happened he approached the area again cautiously. While there was in fact the body of a monster there, it was trapped under the vehicle. Cool eyes flashed over the area again, trying to piece together what happened. This time Domison noticed the splash of ichor on the truck, right where the coupe had impacted, furrows torn into the ground all around the base of the totaled car, with the driver's side door of the truck left swung wide.
"Somebody tried to make a road pancake out of you, didn't they?" Domison said aloud as he crouched several feet away from the crushed Naxcrupe below the passenger side tire. It appeared as though the monster had been crushed against the truck at impact before being sucked under the wheel and mangled when the driver reversed. In the panic they must have been feeling, Domison doubted they even realized the creature had been permanently immobilized.
Between the several thousand pounds of motorized vehicle crushing it and the Naxrupe's state of physical disrepair, it wasn't going anywhere fast. In a smooth motion, Domison reversed his sword and drove it down through the thing's skull, bringing its weak scrabbles and guttural wheezing to a halt. There was no hesitation as the man snuffed out the flickering flame left in the abomination half buried under metal and soil. As soon as his sword had been removed from the now limp form, he heard a light whimper. The sound seemed to be coming from the rear seats of the vehicle, but Domsion couldn't see through the cracked, blood-covered glass.
Domison moved to the rear passenger side door, stepping over the cooling corpse as he did. He tried the door handle while trying to wipe away the gore obscuring his view inside the cabin. It was too dark inside and the door didn't budge at all, but Domison couldn't shake the feeling that whimper had a very human-like quality to it. As the man positioned himself to attempt tearing the door from its hinges, Raze appeared silently next to him.
'I know what you heard, but is now really the time to favor your humanity?' Raze asked skeptically.'Whoever is hiding in there is most likely injured, too weak to help you fight your way back, or just plain stupid. Any of those options makes them a parasite, and you don't SAVE parasites.'
Domison only gave the creature the side eye as he ran his hands along the seam of the door, not deigning to respond. After several moments his trailing fingers came to a stop, and he was able to wedge the tips of those fingers down into the slight crack.'Forgive me buddy, I'll just be a little longer. I can't just leave somebody here.' Domison thought to himself, bracing his left arm on the rear fender he pulled at the closed door, adding more and more pressure until the metal door started shrieking in complaint. For a moment nothing else happened. Then the entire door popped off the vehicle with a final, resounding crack.
Domison tossed the door alongside the roadway and crouched down to glance into the car. Tucked away into the back of the car, sitting tightly packed against the floor and wedged between the seats, was a man and a woman holding each other close. Wide fear stricken eyes gazed out at him as trembling arms squeezed tightly around battered bodies. Both of their clothes were torn in places, with blood splattering across skin and fabric. A wound akin to road rash crawled up the left side of the man's face, which was shrouded by a mop of brown hair. An oozing cut peaked out from beneath the shredded sleeve of a graphic tee shirt with the depiction of a giant lizard destroying a metropolis in a rectangle on the front. The woman was mostly covered by the young man's body, but Domison could make out a petite form with straight black hair and she seemed to be wearing a sundress.
From the lack of metal enhancements and lens-like irises, Domison could tell they must be a part of the poverty class, just like he was. After all, who wouldn't enhance themselves if they could? Gaining the power of a superhero in terms of strength, being able to improve vision tenfold. Not even mentioning the several times increase in mental processing power top-of-the-line neural implants could bring. Nevertheless, these two young people were not of the upper echelon and Domison wouldn't be able to live with himself if he left them here to be hunted by those beasts.
Shooting one last glare towards the place Raze was just floating, Domison shuffled closer to the vehicle. He turned slightly and deposited his rear end on the edge of the seat at the rear of the car and began attempting to coax them out of the vehicle. "Hello there," his voice was as low and soothing as he could make it, "I can't even imagine what you two must have seen or hell, what you've been through… But I want to try to help you make it back to Old Town. My apartment is in the slums right on the outskirts of Old Town so I'm headed that way. I would like to take you along, to get you out of here, if you're willing."
With every word, it was like new life was being blown across the man's features. The woman began to peek around his back, gaze still full of fear as her eyes flitted around the surroundings. After several moments, the man seemed to find his voice and asked in a sudden huff, "How are we any better off with you?" There was an artificial heat there, born from a time when raising your voice may have gotten you somewhere with retail workers and salespeople. For Domison the challenge in his tone just caused irritation to start building at the back of his mind.
"If you'd rather stay in this hell hole, then go right ahead." Domison stepped out of the car as he said these words, a genuine heat matching the younger man's hollow tone. "I was fighting those beasts for hours and I just wanted to help somebody I thought was in trouble get as far away from their supposed breeding ground as possible. If you'd rather get eaten in your own misguided attempt to impress your girlfriend, then that's not my problem." The two only stared at him, the woman's hands tightening around the man's shirt while his jaw stood slightly ajar. "I'll be going then," Domison said as he began to pace down the roadway, forging a path away from the vehicle.