The Aftermath

The city was growing quiet, even though the sun was still high in the sky, it was as if the people were giving up. As if they’d lost their voices. Many people walked the streets, ghosts of who they once were, likely many of them didn’t have a home to return to after the attack this morning.

Matt tried not to look at them, reminded too much of the town-kids from his own youth. His leg stumbled under him as the muscles again rebelled, the effect a combination of exhaustion and side effects of the booster.

Lilith wasn’t too much better off than himself, her steps taken slowly and carefully so that most people might miss it, but he could sense the exhaustion flowing from her mind. Her eyes were drifting from the earth at her feet to the empty people walk around her. An empty expression filled her face as she hid away her true emotions that were beating at Matt like the waves of a stormy ocean.

Together they walked through the quiet city careful of the corpses and debris while stepping through blood soaked muddy streets. Nearby a baby cried in the arms of her mother, who was too despondent to notice.

Matt looked down at the reddish mud at his feet, trying to remember how this city had been only a short time ago. Lively, loud, colourful in its own way, it had been a place like he’d dreamed of as a child but now it felt as if his home had spread it’s poison on to this town. Influencing it into something like the quiet land of the dead he came from.

His feet stuck in the mud, letting out a wet squash as he took the next tired step. Matt was starting to realize how he no longer had a place to which he wanted to return. He rejected the homeland that he’d suffered against throughout his youth, he rejected this city which used his people as nothing more than ammunition.

He found nothing worth returning to, which was part of the reason he became so dedicated to his quest, a vain hope that somewhere along the way he’d find a place to call home. People he could call family again. A tear fell from his reddened eye before he pulled himself from the reverie that pulled at the loose threads of his soul.

Lilith paused by a pile of rubble, lifting some off to uncover a body. The dead man’s chest had caved in, from falling wreckage, but his glazed eyes continued to stare into the sky. His mouth still open with a scream that would never be heard.

She lightly held the corpses bloody mouth, saying a few words of solace for the dead before leaving him behind. Matt felt bad for leaving him there like that but there were so many corpses around that moving one wouldn’t make a difference.

Leaving behind the body, they finally reached the baths that they’d used only this morning. There were few people here and there, most of which were wandering around as if lost. Without saying a word, they entered the pale white arches seeing another world inside. A world unaffected by all this violence.

Inside they were welcomed with an incredibly cheerful voice, “Good afternoon, my lovelies.” Rloki called out to them from the massive bath, her voice at odds with the outside world.

Lilith didn’t reply, standing in place looking at Rloki as if seeing a monster. “Don’t call me that.” She muttered, walking to the water’s edge and washing her hands and face.

Matt was too stunned to reply at all, he felt as if he’d walked through a portal into yet another world, leaving behind all the horrors at the door. It was a mildly unpleasant feeling, for the world and his own mind to be so at odds.

“Why not you are lovely…” Silence ensued after her words, before she finally came out and spoke about the one topic they were all thinking about, “I suppose there was another attack.” The words brief as she floated in the water resting her chin on the edge of the bath.

“Worse than last time, half the city is gone.” Lilith replied unwilling to lie or joke about this. “You didn’t see it?”

“I didn’t leave here, I thought if I was going to die it might as well be in a relaxing tub while wearing what I was born in. Though this building is more sturdy than most of the others in this city too.” She sighed letting out some pent-up stress. “So, I suppose that there are many dead.”

“Probably.” Lilith whispered, as she stared into the water.

Matt following along with the conversation undressed and sat at the side of the pool washing himself for the second time today. The smell of smoke and blood infused his clothes worn clothes which were already showing signs of decay.

Rloki looked over his direction with startled eyes, glancing at the place between his legs, “What!? You… you aren’t… you are still a child?” The voice reverberating through the room, “And the day keeps getting worse.” Rloki crawled out of the water, wiping herself down with a towel before throwing on a set of new clothes.

The clothes were far more colourful than felt appropriate right now. “I’m going to see what I can do then. This town is sure to need some smiles right now.” Rloki left them in complete silence aside from the splashing of water.

Lilith glanced his direction as if unsure about something. “He’s only a kid… so it should be all right.” Her thoughts unknowingly leaked out, finally making Matt wonder how many of his own were flowing into her.

She started to take her armour off one piece at a time, starting with her legs and arms. Before long she stripped of her chest and back plate revealing pale skin covered in swirling stama. He hadn’t noticed under her armour but her chest was inflated like with many of the women in this world. The appearance not completely alien but still strange to him. There were very few women he’d come across in his own world who had such an ailment. He wondered whether it had to do with eating too much.

Lilith’s face grew red as he looked her direction, and her stama fluctuated along her skin moving quicker and in tighter spirals. She turned her back to him trying to keep her calm as she wiped away the blood and dirt covering her skin.

Matt decided to focus on his own cleanliness for now, washing away the fresh stains on his skin and clothes. It wasn’t long before he was finished and lay back on the stone floor, too restless to sleep, too tired to move.

The faces of the dead passed by his eyes, all of those that he couldn’t save. He did not know them and he did not regret their deaths, yet still they haunted him now, as if he was somehow at fault they died.

His clothes were left drying in the sunlight beside him, the open roof allowing for the sun to directly shine on both him and his clothes. Matt heard a surge of water as Lilith left the bath, her silver hair clinging on her short horns, no longer hiding them as much as it had.

Matt barely made out marks of the stama flowing along those pale horns. Whatever she was wasn’t human anymore, that much he was certain of. She reclothed herself in her dried armour plate and padding, doing as much as she could to ignore him.

She still had his pistol and spare magazines carried in a small pouch at the back of her pants, but for now at least he had little urge to take them back from her. Her speed and accuracy with his pistol was the only reason he was still breathing after that battle, and there was no telling when something similar might happen again.

Next time he mightn’t have time to arm her before they both died.

Lilith stood over him staring down into his face as he laid back waiting for strength to return to his tired body. “We’re moving now, get dressed.” She said shortly before striding away towards the arches.

Matt’s muscles trembled as he ordered them to move, finally getting to his feet he struggled with his moist clothes. First the loincloth that he’d been given, not knowing how exactly it was supposed to be tied he wrapped himself up and gave it a tight knot. Then over the top was his jumpsuit, marked with dozens of holes and scratch marks. It wasn’t meant to be used outside of the suit for very long and was already deteriorating, it’s protective capabilities were likely as good as paper now.

He struggled one leg at a time until the uniform was on, letting himself walk with a relaxed pace towards where Lilith had walked ahead. He could hear a few distant screams echoing through the arches as he passed. The people walking by outside were empty shells, eyes aimed down at their feet as they occasionally walked into a wall or tripped on some debris. Many of them were bleeding from small injuries.

“They’re not doing well.” Matt pointed out nodding his head at the strangers passing by.

“We’ll what do you want to do with them? You have some miracle cure for this?” She waved her hand across the shattered horizon where entire sections of city had fallen to rubble.

Matt didn’t have a reply, standing by her side as they wordlessly observed the depressing reality surrounding them. He’d never seen the aftermath like this before, he’d never been in a place like this before to begin with, but even now this city was slightly more comfortable than the towns of his home.

He hadn’t noticed it earlier but the people who walked by radiated with grief, pain, and loss. They wore their emotions on their sleeve even when their faces were painted with shock. This was a place that suffered but was still alive, broken but healing. Unlike his own world.

Matt struggled forwards his legs trembling, but he forced them to push onwards. Lilith turned to him as he stepped down to the muddy street. “Where are you going?” Her question asked with a firm voice.

“To do something about this,” He didn’t need to explain what this was.

“What can you do?” She murmured stepping down to him.

“I don’t know, but I’ll find something.” He walked down the road without thought for direction, his eyes up as he examined the carnage and looked for something that he could do to erase a little of the pain. The pain of this city and the pain beating in his own chest.

Lilith followed him, her footsteps quiet. When Matt looked back to her she was rotating between staring at her feet and the faces of those who passed by. The bright sun igniting her silver hair with a brightness that he wasn’t used to seeing, a brightness that was lacking in her face.

Having walked without direction Matt was surprised to hear the screams getting louder as he continued onwards. Even so, he decided to chase the noise and offer what he could to ease the suffering causing such painful screams.

The foot traffic grew more thick as the screams grew more clear, and seeking out the source of the sound, they soon found themselves standing amidst a sea of corpses.

The smell was overwhelming, it was too early for the bodies to start rotting but the smell of stomach and organs having been torn open. The smell of human waste covering the ground from the dead and dying unable to move. The smell of the people sweat stained and bloody. The smell of sickness as people emptied their stomachs, attempting to avoid dirtying the corpses any further.

Where he stood, one in ten bodies were still making weak sounds, the rest were the wounded who had died soon after arriving. None of the wounded had Dart injuries, instead all of them suffered from some form of bruising or lacerations likely caused from buildings collapsing.

The screams were filled with a mixture of grief and pain. The grieving families holding onto bodies that had changed in state from people into objects, screaming out and sobbing interchangeably. The wounded and dying crying out to this unfair world that had forced onto them such a fate as this.

Matt and Lilith both stood quietly in shock of the sight. It was too much, too much pain, too much suffering, too much death. This was like entirely another world to him, and it hurt in a familiar way to stare down into the eyes of the dead wishing he’d been in their place.

Perishing the thought from his head Matt stepped forwards, his eyes focused on one young boy with no family or friends by his side. It was obvious just by looking that the boy was dying, nothing he did could change that fact. Yet he still walked up to the boy, letting the kids desperate hand grip onto his own.

The boys eyes were wrapped in a cloth, unable to look at Matt; he could still feel the strength in the boys grip. Fingernails carved into his skin, as the desperate cries grew louder. Lilith stood opposite him looking down at the boy, eyes filled with uncertainty and sadness.

Tentatively she knelt down and like him held the dying boys hand, “Mama… Papa…” he let out between sobs, his screaming having faded away. Matt could feel the strength in the boys grip lessen with his voice.

“I’m coming mama, please stop the hurting mama.” Matt held onto the boy’s hand forcefully, not speaking for fear of breaking the boys hopeful illusion.

“I’m coming…” he whispered as his shuddering body stopped moving, his grip falling loose a moment after. Matt could sense that the boy was dead, impossible modern medicine might have revived him but such a luxury didn’t exist here.

Lilith, tears still rolling down her cheeks, nudged at the kid. “Hey… wake up… there’s still more… you… haven’t seen… this world… don’t go racing off ahead. Open your eyes…” She let her words fall out gently as she fought to regain control of her emotions. Matt glanced at her eyes but it seemed as though her eyes were looking past everything, looking into memories rather than the dead corpse before her.

Matt released his hold of the person shaped object, putting his hand on hers as she clutched desperately to the boy. “He’s gone.” He whispered to her. “He’s gone.”

She blinked a few times before looking over at Matt. Her tearstained eyes desperate to hide what she was letting out, it took only a moment for her to wipe away her tears and return to something close to normal. That disguise couldn’t hide the turmoil inside her from travelling along their bond.

In the back of his mind Mat could feel a stormy ocean, waves crashing down with thunderous shudders.

As they walked, they encountered more of the dying, separating from each other; Lilith, with more restraint eased those who were still conscious. Matt wondered around doing what he could do himself, mostly just holding their hand and smiling gently with them as they passed away.

Fear and loss filled his heart. Walking over to a tall and well-muscled man Matt felt a moment of recognition, a moment of error as he looked down into a face so like that of Damien, his childhood friend. In his heart and mind, it was Damien lying before him on top of a cloth covered in mud.

It was Damien who was whispering such gentle words, empty of meaning, as he held on tightly to a life that was slipping away. It was Damien who’s eyes became empty as they froze in place, body relaxing into the hand of death as he was carried away from this reality.

As soon as the man died matt walked away, looking for someone else to comfort, but as he walked he was surrounded with familiar faces. Faces from his childhood aged to fit the corpses he passed by, to his left was the corpse of the Harry that lived into his later years, to his right was an empty vessel reassembling Jane had she lived only a little longer. Alex, Selene, Pete.

Karen.

Dear Ren.

He paused at the body staring into the cold face of death, heart beating in hope that her lips might move a fraction, that her eyes might look his direction.

“I’m alive!” A whisper carried to his ear from afar but when he looked around he couldn’t see who might’ve said it.

Feeling worthless as the dying around him continued to ignore his attempts to soothe them and as the dead haunted him with familiar faces, Matt turned to look for Lilith.

She was speaking with a young man who was still conscious enough to converse with her. “I don’t want to keep on going like this. I’m just a burden on everyone while I wait to slowly die. Please help me.” The man was covered in blood but was mostly hidden by his large black cloak.

Lilith carefully drew a small knife from her pouch, “Are you sure about this?” she asked him, holding the man’s hand in her other free hand as she positioned the knife over his heart.

“I’m sure, and thank you. Thank you for saving them.” Lilith punctured his chest, pushing it in up to the hilt before retrieving it. She whipped the blade clean with a cloth from her pouch, standing and leaving the dead man’s body in a restful position.

“Lilith.” Matt called her, she walked his direction at the sound of her name, “Are you okay?” he asked fiddling with the stock on his rifle to distract himself.

“You’re asking me that? It was your people who did this, shouldn’t you feel something about this?!” She replied forcefully.

“I’ve hated my people for a long time,” he replied wistfully, “this feeling isn’t anything new. Though I’ve never seen it on such a scale before.”

“Then why are you so intent on saving those people?” She called out to him, leaving him behind as she walked away from him.

“I don’t know,” He whispered to himself out of her earshot.

They made their way past the corpses and towards where the sobbing and screaming was louder. Here were the people who still might live, if they were lucky enough to get seen by a surgeon. Assistants were running around gathering people up and moving them around. Some of the wounded were being carried to where Lilith and Matt had just walked from, letting out soft whimpers and loud screams as they were literally sent to the graveyard.

Here were people who’d lost limbs, people who’d been badly burnt or had their limbs twisted in unnatural positions, and some who were severely burnt screaming from the bottom of their lungs. Those which had been too badly bleeding were either attended or already dead.

Lilith let out a small sigh as a fresh wave of fear overwhelmed her; Matt, surprised at this sudden change in emotion followed her eyes to where a young girl was lying on a blanket that had long since been stained red.

Opi. The young girl from the Knights camp, was moving around with her arm being wrapped up by an exhausted surgeon whose hands kept slipping.

“Lilith?” the girl called out to her as she recognised the Knight from the crowd.

“Yes.” She walked to the girl no sympathy on her face, but her heart filling with regrets.

“Ahhh!” She cried as the surgeon accidentally knocked the end of her limb, sniffling she turned to Lilith, “Does this mean I can’t be one of you?” She asked tears welling in her eyes at the prospect.

“This has no effect on it.” Lilith waved off her concerns, “What matters is whether you can pass the test, be strong and you’ll be fine.” She let the girl be alone, walking away. Matt gave Opi a little nudge on the shoulder and a smile, she returned his smile with a blatantly forced smile.

Lilith was walking away from the entire area, racing away from the screams with a quick pace. Matt jogged up to her side, pushing past desperate family members and despondent wounded.

After a silence settled down between them, Matt asked her a question without turning his head to her, “Is she going to become like you?” He already knew the answer but asked anyway, wanting to fill the silence with something more than moans and distant screams.

“Maybe…” She replied vaguely.

“What next?” His eyes searched the area but there was nothing that he could see worth doing. The buildings were beyond repair and the people beyond helping, this place could only heal through time and even then, it wouldn’t be the same. Matt knew that much personally.

Lilith didn’t reply to him just continuing her silent walk through the city streets. Her stomach grumbled passionately as they passed lunch by several hours, but there wasn’t much in the way of food available.

Sighing he continued to stride around the city with her, hoping to find something to which he could give his time and strength. More than anything right now he wanted to fill his hands with a task worth doing.

Ahead Matt made out the image of a man slightly different from the others, it wasn’t how he was dressed, but rather how he walked. He was throwing aside chunks of rubble and picking up objects that littered the ground underneath.

Carrying a large basket the man continued to move along doing the same thing. Matt nudged Lilith and walked over to the man. Lilith didn’t react very positively, her arms hanging loose at her side as she resembled a doll more than a person.

Matt walked up to the man who was currently struggling with holding a large chunk of rubble while digging around underneath it. Without sharing any words Matt took the weight of the rubble off of the man, who now dug underneath. He retrieved small colourful balls which reminded Matt of mangoes from his textbook back in his world.

Gently the man added them to the contents of the basket, even those that were mostly crushed were collected. After that area was clear Matt chased after him, collecting similar fruits that were scattered around the place and adding them to the man’s collection.

“Under here.” The man murmured pointing at a section of wall that had fallen down without breaking apart. Matt quietly lifted the section, his tired muscles straining but not about to give up yet, the man carefully crawled underneath throwing out various fruit before re-emerging all the muddier for it.

Matt dropped the rubble letting it fall apart as it hit the wet ground. Continuing to follow the man and help him, they eventually arrived at a small community of people carrying baskets. Some were filled with food, some with clothes, and elsewhere there were people carrying along buckets of water to deliver here.

Nearby was a place where people were huddled together munching at raw food or sipping water from buckets. There were no words spoken here, those eating soon stood and picked up an empty basket or bucket when they were done. Some assistants and new people came to rest in their place.

Matt looked around for Lilith who was following along behind him, her eyes hollow. Grabbing a pair of large fruit Matt threw one to Lilith, who reacted slowly, snatching the fruit from the air as it was about to slap into her head.

Recovering a little she looked to Matt with questioning eyes, “You are hungry, aren’t you?” he asked her as she gradually pulled herself back together.

“A little presumptuous for a Krilm like you, but I suppose you were born for the purpose of serving others.” She tore into the fruit with her teeth eating it skin and all.

“Yeah, but that’s just how life is.” He replied, unsure of how her comment was supposed to offend him this time. He tried to bite into the fruit like her but the skin was far too tough and tasted unreasonably bitter.

He carefully cut open the fruit with his knife making sure not to cut himself with it. From inside the fruit, erupted a sweat fragrance wafting out from its purple flesh.

Only now realizing how hungry he was Matt tore into the fruit with a sudden force. Finishing the meal quickly enough to upset his stomach, he looked over to Lilith as he gnawed on the skin that was left. She was finishing up herself, throwing aside a large seed that had been inside.

Matt had eaten the seed in his own without knowing it was there to begin with, standing up with a little concern for his stomach he walked over to where the baskets of supplies were piling up and disappearing. A woman in her older age was guiding people through, waving them towards where to drop off the new supplies.

He approached her carefully still unsure about how to talk with her without giving Lilith a nosebleed and a headache. She pointed him out from the crowd and dragged him off to the side.

“You were the one running after the Knight, helping to destroy those monsters, weren’t you?” she asked him with some force to her words, she was unable to fully restrain her emotions.

Matt nodded unsure how to proceed, he hadn’t noticed anyone watching him at the time. But then he wasn’t exactly being quiet, so it wasn’t surprising that someone took notice of him.

“Where did you get that weapon from?” She asked pointing it his rifle, voice filled with curiosity, “Ah, but never mind that, thank you so much for what you’ve done today. Because of you the mother of my grandchild is still alive, I’m sure there are plenty of others as well.”

“To tell you the truth when they showed up and blew down the walls, I didn’t think anything would stop them; except perhaps the Sasahara Knights.” The elderly woman was staring over at Lilith who was staring absentmindedly at her feet.

“And it seems even they’ve had it rough. It’s not much but take these for my gratitude. They were my husbands before he passed away. Thank the gods he wasn’t here to watch his children die.” She had tears overflowing from her eyes.

“Oh, and now I’m getting all sentimental. Go on and get that lovely girl to start smiling again, seeing her sulking around is making everyone depressed.” She waved him back towards Lilith, his hands full of clothes.

The clothes were almost completely coated in mud but his own uniform had outlived its shelf life and was starting to fall apart around him. Without regards for the nearby people, he quickly changed into the set of clothes that seemed easy to wear.

He wrapped himself in the brown clothes, the bottom part hanging from his waist loosely was more a skirt than pants, the top half wrapped over his shoulders and fell to his knees resting over his arms rather than having sleeves. The shoes were nothing more than thin slips on his feet with small wooden treads underneath. “How do I look?” he turned to Lilith forcing a smile on his tired lips.

“Like a Krilm.” She muttered too tired to come up with a lengthy response.

Matt took to hand the empty basket nearby and started walking off towards piles of rubble. He quickly discovered that all the nearby areas were picked clean and decided to follow a middle-aged woman as she travelled out again having just delivered a basket of clothes.

Lilith followed wordlessly, she was on the edge of becoming despondent like many of the others that were wandering around the city. Matt tried to get her to start talking again with mindless chatter while he walked.

“Back home we didn’t have anything like this place, everything was quiet and empty. Just looking at the people passing by I can see something in their eyes, a spark buried beneath all of this pain and shock that wasn’t there back in my world.” He let his thoughts spill out unable to think of any other topic.

“They wouldn’t laugh because they were never happy, they’d never cry because they were never sad. Ren always had hope that they could change but I’m still not sure that’s possible.” The woman ahead had started scavenging so he did the same, taking to hand anything that looked remotely useful.

Lilith helped him, slowly taking to hand a variety of things from the muddy ground and putting them in the basket. She whispered quietly to him, “Why did you come here?” her words holding onto some anger.

“Me? Because I was ordered to. My people, my world, they were surprised by the sudden portal to this world and some people got lost inside it.” Matt himself had been told very little at the time, all he knew was that his training was suddenly changed and increased in intensity.

“The system must have taken your world as a threat, that’s the only reason I can think of to do this much.” He sighed throwing aside a chunk of wall and inspecting a strange metal item trying to decide whether it was worth taking.

“The system. That’s your leaders?” she asked her words still quiet but she was gradually returning to her senses.

“Yeah. The system tells us what to do and how to live.” He confirmed, deciding to take the strange object.

“You said that you hated them earlier, so why stay with them, why not fight back?” She spoke with a little more passion now.

Matt was silent in reply, forcing down memories that were rising to Lilith’s provocation. “Pointless.” He said quietly, feeling the weight of deaths on his shoulders.

“Surely you could have tried, or at least died trying!” She yelled forcefully at him, “because you didn’t…” She fell silent looking over the broken landscape.

“I did.” He replied, “Again and again, until I lost even myself.” He replied letting his mouth move as he worked. “Again and again and again.” His voice fell away to a whisper.

Lilith noticing the hopelessness radiating from him and said nothing more, filled with frustration herself.

Hands moving quickly, they continued to work hard, gathering what items they could as the sky grew dark with a storm forming overhead. Matt turned to see the woman who he’d followed here get shoved aside as a young man snatched her basket and ran.

Matt didn’t bother to give chase, it was only natural for an animal to consider its own survival above that of others he walked over to the lady who was still lying in the mud. She was quietly weeping.

Without sharing words Matt offered her a hand up, she stumbled up with his help but kept on sobbing. It wasn’t like she’d been pushed hard but on top of the stress everyone had experience today he could sympathise with the woman.

She continued sobbing for a while, not letting go of the hand that had helped her to stand up. After some time had passed she wiped away her tears letting go of his hand, “Thank you.” She whispered slowly forming the words before walking back down to the supply camp.

By the time they returned themselves with a full basket, the sun had settled, seated gently on the horizon, and dark clouds covered the rest of the open sky growling threateningly in the cooling day. People were still gathered here in this uncovered area, there were far too few buildings standing for them all to take refuge from the coming storm. Many of them didn’t even notice as the rain started to fall gently on them.

Travelling quickly on tired legs Matt noticed that there were more people digging through the wreckage now. Some fought each other over what they found and no one attempted to interfere. Even the guards were the same, if not more forceful in their attempts to take from the weak hands of those who dug through the debris of their homes.

Many people still walked down to the gathering where he’d been helping gather supplies all afternoon with Lilith. Their eyes holding some little hope as they travelled to a place where human life was still worth something.

On the side of the road he noticed a young woman who’d been sitting beneath an angled section of wall safe from the rain. A man walked up to her and tore the tattered blanket from her hands pushing her halfway out into the rain. Rather than fight back the woman shifted as close to the shelter as she could but the man shoved her aside into the mud.

The sight made Matt feel sick, but there was little point to interfering. The same thing was happening all over and as soon as he turned his back she would be back in the rain and mud. There was no point in saving someone just to let them die afterwards, if he couldn’t protect them, then it was pointless to step in now.

Ahead their inn was surrounded by people, most too lifeless to push or cry out to get ahead. Lilith led their way through that crowd, as even now the people were giving her space to move. Despondence wasn’t reason enough to be rude to her it seemed.

Inside was a cheerful voice and the sounds of glasses hitting tables out of rhythm. Once he was through the door he entered yet another world. On the small stage Rloki was singing with as much life as she could force out of her small body. Crying out loudly just to get a little attention from those drinking below her.

Their cups filled with a yellow liquid which was quickly consumed and replaced, but little did they talk or even smile at the act on stage. Most stared into their drinks as if they would find a hint of their past lives at the bottom.

On stage Rloki finished singing her song, waiting for the very thin applause, even going so far as to applaud herself while continuing to smile and goad the crowd. “Come on you lazy curs, it doesn’t take that much effort to clap.”

Matt loudly clapped with her, Lilith standing by his side staring up at the creature on stage with a sneer.

Focusing on the positives Rloki started up a new song, trying to spur the crowd into something resembling happy.

Matt still felt like sleep was a while off, and tired as his body, was he walked closer to the stage. Lilith kept her distance from him. Rloki while singing, waved him up towards the stage, her arms moving life-fully but her eyes exhausted. He had no idea how long she’d been doing this, but felt a growing respect for the woman.

Doing as she indicated he stood up on stage with her, trying to move with the beat. Quickly she stripped of an outer layer of clothes so that she only had a cloth wrapped around her waist and another around her inflamed chest. She smiled to him, grabbing his hands, and moving with the beat of the drums that were played behind them. She dragged him along with her motions.

He awkwardly tried to follow her the rifle slung across his back consistently causing trouble. She cried out to the crowds and kept singing while moving her hips and shoulders. Matt attempting to follow along, looked sadly out of place, his movements stiff as he constantly almost fell over his own feet.

Lilith smirked at him from the crowd and he’d managed to grab the attention of a few other patrons who’d noticed his pathetic attempt at dancing. Although only slightly, as the song came to a close there were a few more people applauding than had been before.

Rloki stepped forwards to address the crowd, “Thank you for watching out titillating performance of… of something…” her words slurred off and she fell, her body suddenly slack. Matt stepped in to support her from behind.

Her eyes were closed and she let out a gentle snore, apparently uninjured. Matt let out a sigh and lifted her into his trembling arms. Thankfully she was light enough to carry even in his weakened state.

As he walked down from stage the patrons quickly returned to their drinking in a depressing silence, now that the one cheerful person among them had fallen asleep.

Walking her body to the stairs he was intercepted by the man behind the bar, “She gave up her room to strangers earlier in the night, would it be too much trouble if she took up some space in your room?”

Matt unable to reply turned to Lilith who’d moved to his side, it seemed as though it was her the man had been addressing, “It’s fine, and if there are any children or elderly feel free to send them up also. Tonight is going to get cold out there.”

The man with a slightly worried look to his eyes spoke up, “Are you sure?” At her nod, he replied, “certainly then.” Though he didn’t immediately move to do so, wiping at the table with a thoughtful look on his face.

Matt climbed the stairs awkwardly trying his best to avoid hitting Rloki’s head as he went, the unconscious person in his arms was moving around making it difficult. Eventually Rloki held a firm grip around his neck hugging tightly while murmuring in her sleep. Lilith, leading the way, opened the door to their room when they arrived.

Matt overly conscious of the person in his arms holding his neck tightly rested her down on his bed, but her tight grip on his neck didn’t release immediately. At first, he tried to pry her arms off but that didn’t work, and when she pushed against her shoulders she pulled him in for a kiss.

He avoided it by just slipping from her grip, though she continued to kiss and gnaw on the pillow she now had wrapped up in her arms. Matt watched her wondering how a person grows up into that, wishing deep in his heart that he’d lived in such a place as she had. Lilith looked on with some disapproval in her eyes.

The door suddenly opened allowing in a half dozen filthy kids, who quickly bowed deeply to Lilith. She waved them on and they dove onto the beds, some cuddling up to Rloki whose attention was still focused on the pillow in her arms.

Standing there, Matt quickly realized that there was no longer room for him in any of the beds. Considering for a moment pushing onto the bed alongside them, he instead sighed and sat next to Lilith who was in the same position she’d been in this morning when he’d awoken.

Outside the window, darkness had fallen and the rain started to pour. Matt could no longer hear the screams of the dying through the heavy pounding of rain as the intensity grew.

“Many more are going to die tonight.” Lilith said looking straight forwards at the blank wall.

“Why do you think that?” he asked, staring instead out the window at the rain.

“The cold will kill them.” She replied, her voice toneless but her mind screaming in sympathy.

“I see.” He replied imagining trying to sleep out on the street in this chill weather and heavy rain. “That’s why you let them in?”

She didn’t reply, just stared at the new faces entering the room and crowding the area. Mostly it was just kids who entered the room, their faces red from crying and hair wet from the downpour outside. They soon quickly filled up the room so that even the floor space was packed tight with bodies.

Thankfully though, out of fear or respect, they gave Matt and Lilith some room around them. Many of the children were coughing and sneezing, others shivered badly as they huddled up to one another.

Matt, warmed by the heat radiating from Lilith, soon felt sleep touching his mind. Soon it became a struggle to keep his eyes open. Matt rested his rifle between the two of them, alongside the damaged helmet he’d secreted away earlier. “Be careful of this,” he told her as he slouched down into a comfortable position.

Without hearing her reply, he let sleep take him.