What followed happened in less than ten minutes, perhaps.

  Penelope ran out of the janitor’s room, into where the rest of the survivors still lounged. She screamed about the situation and how they needed to go back now. Her voice was still shaky and screeched through the hallway. Rue was barely able to put his half-helmet on in time and bandaged it with the help of Ein, who came in clutch.

  Not long after, she returned. She dropped to her knees in front of Rue. Tears were streaming down.

  “Please,” she begged.

  It was strange.

  No one offered a complaint about marching into certain death. Not even Roland, whom Rue thought would run. They quickly filled the ambulances with food and grabbed their keys.

  Rue was inside one, in front with Penelope and Ein. The ambulance’s box had a door that led to the driver's seats. Rue made sure no one was there, and then they went on their way with Ein driving.

  The streetlight was dead, so they had to risk using the ambulance’s light. Rue’s eyes scanned the windows, looking for any sign of rats. Even one of them could derail the entire group since they would be helpless.

  Unreliable, flickering light filled the street. The ambulances’ tires screeched as Ein executed a drift through an apartment complex. They drove past three rats that had been eating a body. Rue didn't even know whether the humans were alive or not as they raced forward.

  Not long after, the Arbeau was within sight. The humongous stadium’s bowl structure gleamed under the intense moonlight, bathed in bright white. Rue’s gaze was briefly blinded by the silvery reflection bouncing off the stadium’s clean steel as it shone by the moon above.

  The world’s football stadium was the point of happiness for billions. Offering them something to look forward to every year despite the pandemic. Rue used to hate them; To be fair, he hated everything back then. But Perez kept talking about his team like he owned the club and ranted on and on. Rue then got interested and requested to watch—he did. It was fun, a brief piece for him.

  Ah, right.

  Back then, he asked if he could be allowed to watch live. He asked Perez.

  The man beamed brightly and said yes. Of course, that never happened. Both of them forgot about it.

  Rue glanced at Penelope, who was shouting into the radio. Tears wet her cheek. And her voice was wavy.

  He wondered if he would have met her back then had Perez brought him to the stadium. The doctor mentioned his favourite time was to watch games with his daughter.

  “Dad? Dad? Just hold on, please. We’re coming. We're bringing someone—”

  The ambulance stopped. Nowhere close to the stadium.

  Penelope looked up, and her gaze bored into Ein, who held an impassive look.

  They stopped at a lobby with overdone decoration of various naked statues, most of which shot out waterfalls down a small tiered stair that led into a lobby.

  They stopped at a hotel, a quite luxurious one.

  “Ein? What the hell? Why are we stopping?”

  “We’re scouting on the rooftop first, Penelope,” Ein said, turning off the ambulance and quickly shoved the key into his pocket. Before Penelope could raise further complaints, the military man left the ambulance and hopped off.

  “Wait, come back here!” She shouted, lunging after him.

  Rue left through the other door and was pleasantly surprised when the others also descended from their own ambulances.

  Just when Rue thought the group was quite disciplined, Roland, the fat man, screamed along with Penelope.

  “We should not stop!” He roared. His gaze was somehow borne on Rue for some reason.

  Unfortunately, it was not just Roland and Penelope; three others raged.

  “My baby boy in that stadium!”

  “My wife—”

  “Look, Ed, calm down,” Edna soothingly hugged a red-haired middle-aged man. “We get it, but we need to know if—”

  “No, Edna! Look, just let us go! You lot can be a coward if…”

  Rue droned out the conversation.

  He saw this all over again.

  It was Perez again, risking Rue’s life, the cure of the entire world for his daughter's life. And her, Penelope, hitting Ein’s chest while he tried to comfort her.

  Yeah. This might be hopeless.

  If they couldn’t see reason, then why the hell should he risk himself to—.

  “Lad!” Suddenly, a hand slung across Rue’s neck.

  Rue sharply turned to see the old man, Ben, who held an easy smile. The porcupine white-haired man held up both arms and motioned toward the lobby with his head.

  “No point in staying here. Let's go upstairs, shall we? It's important to scout out where their bigass canister will be.”

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “Canister?” Rue mumbled. Right, Edna did mention that if they destroyed the canister, the rats would go crazy. Yes, they should target that. “It’s a tall building, sure. But, how are we going to scout it?”

  “This baby right here,” Ben motioned to his sniper slung across his back. “And this here for you.”

  He handed him a pair of binoculars.

  Maybe it was not so hopeless after all.

  “Let's go then, what about them?” Rue asked, pointing at the screaming match.

  “They will follow later. You see, lad, the best thing about walking away from a people's argument is—you don’t have to listen anymore.”

  --

  The lift was working.

  Rue thought Ben was mad when he suggested using it, and he had been afraid that they would foolishly get trapped. But once they stepped onto the rooftop with wind swirling around them like a wave cascading invisible forces, he was glad that he could have someone to count on.

  At first, he thought Ben to be like Paxwell, but the man was way too cheerful to be like the stoic master swordsman.

  “Ah, what a perfect view for a cigarette and milk.”

  “Who smokes and drinks milk at the same time?” Rue asked, following the man to the edge of the roof as he set his sniper down on his belly.

  “Why, I did of course,” he shot him a grin, showing his yellow teeth.

  “No railing? Whoever made this rooftop is mad,” Rue remarked.

  “Who cares? It made my job easier. Ah, let's see…” Ben muttered, circling his scope with his finger.

  Rue tried to see through the binoculars. He sharply sighed as he saw an army of greenish rats rushing into the open reinforced door—the door was melted with that green acid. For God's sake… how many rats were there?

  They might be endless.

  “Is this normal?”

  “Nope, well, most settlements are already doomed. Only a few with thousands living exist. So I guess, technically, this is bound to happen. Big question is where the canister is… Ahah! They do not even bother to hide it!” Ben laughed. “Damned Rats!”

  Rue just figured out how to tinker with the binoculars properly. He kneeled by Ben’s side, dangerously close to the hotel’s edge. Three giant canisters. All three looked like oversized fishbowls with a myriad of… what were those?

  “Is that wire?”

  “Nah, those are extremely small pipes, used to transfer acid into the rats or vice versa. Depends on their goal, really.”

  “How do they make that acid?”

  “It's their pee, mixed in with their poo. That is why they’d like to eat a lot.”

  Seriously? Still, those were a convenient way to gather power.

  “You see those rat elephants below the fishbowl?”

  Rue just realized there were freaking elephants beneath those canisters. Instead of one trunk like a normal elephant, the bloody green fur-covered rat-elephant had five attached around its body, with one on its nose.

  “The rat usually peed straight into—”

  “Stop, please, I don’t need to know that,” Rue said. He could feel a gag building up inside his throat.

  “It's rather important.”

  “Shut up, old man. All I need to do is destroy those bowls, right? Has anyone done it before? Like maybe with a sniper or explosives?”

  “I saw one get destroyed with a sniper. Those things—they're not very durable, like the rats themselves. But now, look around the elephant.”

  Drip Rats—perhaps twelve rats stood still, on two legs, revealing their belly. Their snouts rose up, as if they were smelling the wind. Their fur bristled around. Was that electricity?

  “Electricity?”

  “Yes, some sort of sensor. Not sure how, magic stuff like you did with your ice, I think.”

  So it was not completely defenceless. What to do now? Rue had hoped to destroy those bowls with his Frost Shrapnels from afar. But once he did that, he would reveal their location. If they had time, he could have run around and thrown magic on them. But with the invasion going… He once again looked at the melted gate of Arbeau like a tooth hole in the proud stadium's clean steel.

  The good news was that those canisters were not exactly well defended. If he could get close…

  “Now we’re alone, lad. May this old man ask to be among the first to receive power? I don’t mind being behind Ein and sweet Penelope.”

  Rue eyed the man, and a smile crept across Rue’s face. Yes, that kind of attitude was what would separate survivors and those who would die.

  Especially in this new world.

  “Sure.”

  “That’s it?” Ben’s gaze rose from his sniper scope.

  “I’m a kind person.”

  “No, I think there’s more than that. What are you hiding?”

  “You’re overthinking. Anyway, how should we do this?”

  “We're waiting for my command—ah, there they are.”

  The group finally entered the rooftop. Nobody jested or even held small chatter. Penelope and Roland hung their heads low, not just those two, but the others did as well. Some had red imprints on their cheeks, and Ein’s fist was bloodied.

  Did these idiots fight?

  “Ben!” Ein called, more like snapping, carrying whatever happened down up here. “Situation.”

  “Three big canisters! All lined up prettily with minimal defense. But those things were near the G block. Some damned rats might be hiding there. And the gates are not good, Ein. If we're going, might have to decide now.”

  “Might? Might!” Roland snapped. “Our family is there!”

  “Stop! Just stop! Nobody talk!” Ein barked. The bowl-cut man even held a gun up to the sky and fired three consecutive shots—three bangs resounded over the loud wind, and three flickers of red dissipated as quickly as they came. “Just…”

  He sighed, and it was heavy and full of exhaustion.

  Watching how the poor guy struggled to keep everyone from dying from their own bad decision made Rue feel a bit bad for forcing him to lie. Well, and added to that, he was currently half-lying about granting Ein power. Just a bit at least. Rue did not doubt that if Ein could help it, he would sacrifice Rue to save everyone else.

  If the System tree was not capable of granting fruits to everyone, then what about those who need Hazard blood to survive? Would a healer be able to get rid of their sickness? Would potions be available to cleanse it? He would never know until he planted the seeds. So he would keep lying, as it was his shield.

  Ein’s word died, and the man exhaled heavily, looking around.

  Whatever the conversation they had below, it was clearly not a nice one.

  “I love you,” Ein suddenly declared to Penelope, who was clearly still angry at him. Then her anger dissipated, and she rested her forehead on Ein’s military uniform.

  The man caressed the top of her head, then held the gaze of each of them except Rue.

  “All of you, I love all of you. Which is why, despite them being… slaughtered. I want us to be safe.” Ein said, then sobbed.

  “I get it, Ein,” Roland mumbled. The loud wind still drifted past them. Roland had said something more, but it was outdone by the wind’s noise. Then the fat man screamed it. “But, we have to go! My wife! Kids! You will have my gun, Ein, always, but there is just something I couldn’t abandon.”

  “Ein! I’m with you!” Edna screamed out.

  “All of us are,” Penelope smiled up at Ein. “Let’s go all together. Whatever happened, together.”

  They made a circle around Ein. Everyone was there, except for Rue and Ben, who both just watched. Rue could swear that Ben bit his cheek and tried his hardest to keep himself from bursting out.

  Hands tapping Ein’s shoulder, ruffling his head, clapping his back. Tears flowed as they bumped their foreheads together.

  It was like Rue was watching some kind of movie.

  “Everyone…” Ein started, still amid his sobbing. “That is right. Together, let's all go—"

  “No,” Rue cut him off.

  For some reason, the wind died down as he spoke. Their clothes no longer ruffled. And in the silence, screams replaced it.

  Screams of those inside the faraway arena.

  Was this rude? It sure was. But, like hell, he would bring useless bodies to get in his way.

  “Bringing everyone will be suicidal. I will go there, destroy the canisters, and plant the tree on the court,” Rue said.

  “But—” Ein spoke.

  “I will still need someone—someone who can convince any survivors to eat the fruits. Honestly, it's better if we keep the team small. I’m the only one who can fight them anyway, right? Unless some of you actually have anything.”

  No one spoke up.

  “Well, I will wait below inside the ambulance then,” Rue said.

  Patreon!