The crank wheel groaned, all arthritic and in desperate need of a greasing, as KD spun it all the way around to loosen the door hatch, hinges squealing as it popped open. The hit of fresh air was instant as it flooded down the shaft. Haru, piggybacking on KD, breathed in deeply, displacing the stale bunker air from her lungs. They climbed onto the surface.

Pinned to the purple sky was the sun beaming down. The grass was overgrown, drinking in the balmy day after a course of nonstop rain. Only the basement remained of the home, rooted like a stubborn tree trunk while the rest ran away long ago. It was flooded and a film of sickly green algae floated on the water. At least the dandelions in the backyard looked vibrant with its defiant yellow, though Haru preferred the marigolds that her mother planted.

The past few days of heavy rainfall made Haru as stir crazy as a lizard hungry for warmth. She scurried up the back of KD to sit upon their shoulders, luxuriating in the greater coverage of light like a sunflower.

“Onwards into the city,” Haru said as she tried steering KD by their horns. “Left, right, left, right, left, right…”

KD remained anchored to the ground. “For the last time, Haru, I am not some mindless stead to be steered. I am the great Kill Death, the black hands of devastation, menace to Entropy Entities, forged in the primordial chaos of combat in the Void Realm—”

“—Left, right, left, right...” she continued, unable to be dissuaded.

With a long sigh, KD took a waddling step forward as they resigned themself to a lowly stead for the girl.

The wooden fence in the backyard was blown to splinters, opening a way for them to cut straight through the back alley to scale up the steep side of the berm. With such long arms on KD, their hands trailed behind them like the sleeves of an oversized sweater on a kid. This has led Haru to suspect that KD actually stood for “Knuckle Dragger”, not “Kill Death” that it liked other people to believe.

The road that led into the central part of the city was gouged with shell holes from artillery and the slain coaster serpent—a metallodragon as tall as a streetlight, as wide as four lanes of road— now a several kilometre stretch of ribs and vertebrae made of rusted metal and discoloured bone.

“Hold on,” KD announced as they compressed both arms like a spring.

Then, both fists pounded craters into the road, both feet left the ground, and launched them up into the air. The sharp acceleration slammed her heart down to her stomach. Haru was whooping with delight. Her white hoodie rippled violently in the wind. The round frame glasses on her face were trying to press through her skull. Suddenly the world was several altitudes higher, closer to the sun. Strands of stray hair flailed around chaotically from her bun as gravity dragged them back down. Upon landing on the curved arch of the coaster serpent rib, Haru was giddy for more.

They walked on the spine of the coaster serpent, where they passed over blocks of mangled concrete and glass and steel. Normally, such a journey would have been long and dangerous for Haru. In any of those buildings could be a Snapper-grabber hiding under some rubble, a Chaos Prism trying to trap her within its intradimensional space, or another city goon looking to steal her loot. And on more than one occasion Haru had to get her short sword more than a little wet.

In short, travelling through the city sucked buns.

Haru tightened her hands around KD’s horns.

***

Two months ago, Haru recovered an item for Trash Wizard. Winter had yet to thaw into Spring, and her bones craved something hearty and warm. So when Trash Wizard asked to name her price, she demanded her weight in canned goods, particularly chicken noodle soup. On her way back to the bunker from the trash Kingdom, she tumbled across a pack of Void Entities. They had long stocky bodies, black as the same stuff from the abyssal plain, faces adorned with the visage of a white skull, and a penchant for bloodsport. A pack could easily tear apart a Turtle Tank like rain through paper. Haru dove into the closest building to hide. Cars were getting hurdled like dodgeballs as the pack fought a Golgotha, a composite of concrete rumble and bodies of unlucky city goons. With its hardened exterior though, the cars only warped around the Golgotha, barely chipping it all. The pack descended upon the monster instead. Haru chewed on her scarf as she watched nervously, not quite certain which side she would rather win.

Fists pounded. Concrete was calved like chunks from a glacier. The Golgotha thrashed to shake the Void Entities loose. One in particular, a Void Entity with a pair of lengthy arms, was smashing its fists down on the Golgotha’s head when they were bucked up. Long Arms fell to the snowy ground. A set of jaws made of a conglomerate of skulls closed around one of their arms, flailing them around like a predator snapping a neck. Haru thought it was over for Long Arms, only certain doom. And yet they continued to clobber the monster with the free arm they had. Each strike was a sledgehammer. Slabs of concrete broke and fell, exposing the fleshy interior of the Golgotha, soft and pulsating.

They shot a fist into the pink mass. The Golgotha bellowed and collapsed, kicking up dust, like an “Off” button was punched. The jaws slackened and Long Arms tumbled out, covered in slobber. Victorious yet badly mangled. An arm was ripped to rags, resting limply on their side as a black substance dripped down their fingertips. They uttered something unintelligible. The rest of the pack only stared down at Long Arms, stood still for the longest moment, then walked away, indifferent.

Other monsters would probably get drawn to the area because of the fight, so Haru started scurrying out of the building to get back to her bunker. It had been a long, cold day. The stove in the bunker was calling to the cans of chicken noodle soup in her backpack. A dead Void Entity was a good thing, anyways. One less thing to worry about in the city ruins. That was, until she heard the crying. It was the sort of deep sobbing that came from the bottom of a wounded heart, like that of a kid.

Partly out of stupidity, mostly out of curiosity, Haru peaked out through a broken window. Sitting dejectedly on the curb was the Long Arms, chest heaving with each sob, their sadness going unheeded. Except for the girl. All apprehension toward the thing slipped away, as a tenderness in her chest drove her to approach it.

Long Arms lashed out pathetically, hand flopping onto the gritty asphalt. “Does thou want to join this Golgotha in oblivion too?” they choked out, trying to hide the sad with an outburst of anger.

But it was just that, an act. “I came to see if you are okay. I heard you crying,” Haru said.

“Me? Crying? The great Kill Death sheds only the blood of its enemies, never tears!”

She hooked her thumbs on the straps of her blue overalls. “There’s nothing wrong with having a cry sometimes. I know because I do it too. I think crying is very good. It helps me get rid of all that heavy sad inside. That way, I have room for smiles when the happy finally comes.”

“...”

“When I get hurt, or sad, or I’m feeling super duper tired, a can of chicken noodle soup always cheers me up.”

“...”

“I don’t have a can opener on me right now, but my bunker has one. If you want to come with, I can have some heated up for you. Make a splint for that arm too.”

Long Arms shifted from side to side, considering deeply.

“And I also have a spare bunk for you to sleep slop soup on… if you want. Somewhere nice and soft to rest for a while. I don’t mind at all.”

They looked up from the ground, sniffled. “They left me, and I was unable to follow after them because of my...” They lifted up their broken arm, more a sleeve wet with gore than a limb.

Haru smiled, and cradled within it was a world of assurance. She stretched out an open hand. “Let’s make a sling for that arm.”

That was when something flickered in their eye sockets, a quiet rearrangement of atoms. Hesitantly, with an animal caution, Long Arms stood and placed a massive hand into hers. Its touch was surprisingly warm. With the scarf, she looped it under and over the broken arm, then tied it up around the neck.

“No one should ever have to be alone,” Haru said.

“Thank you,” they replied.

And together they went back to the bunker.

***

The back of the coaster serpent started to taper as Haru and KD approached the tail. Haru dug out the binoculars from her backpack, with which she scoured the horizon until she spotted the Convention Centre, the glass building glaring back.

Haru lowered the binoculars. “Spatula, here we come.”