Chapter 24: Endemic: Part 2

Endemic: Part 2

“Mmm...”

Footsteps could be heard nearby. In the darkness, she was slowly waking up.

The footsteps weren't those of one or two people, but numerous like the march of a small army.

“...”

Swirling her saffron locks, revealing her eyes, Rousset gradually checked her surroundings inside the tiny house where they had rested.

“Ah... Eh!”

Despite feeling terribly fatigued, she had to shake her head and try to wake up.

The deal, according to her guide Sarays, was to stay there as long as they wanted, as long as they left before nightfall.

Looking up, the streetlights were already illuminating the colorful amusement park.

She didn't know, but if she had a clock, it would read 3 a.m.

“How can it be so late...? Or early? I just wanted a short nap... Hm... What are you doing?

Chase was still asleep on his pillow, showing no sign of waking up. Whatever was happening outside would compel her to bother him until they both saw the same thing.

"Chase... Wake up. Something's up."

"?"

He quickly opened his eyes and stood up. As if he hadn't slept, and hadn't had the need.

"Yeah, I heard them coming a long time ago... Why the heck would a crowd gather in the early morning? Don't they have anything better to do?"

Leaving the tiny, quaint house, Chase and Rousset followed the throng of people walking toward one end of the park, whispering together.

“What's that...?”

“You can hear it over there, can't you?”

Some of the unknown people were still in their nightclothes, so it was a strange and unexpected noise for everyone to check; nothing like anything they might be used to at the amusement park.

Being the last few of the big group, the duo couldn't see beyond the heads of the crowd. It was then that Chase climbed onto the small houses, one by one, as if on a ladder. Rousset was surprised to see him so active for a 'grumpy, whiny kid', and it being the late hours of the early morning.

"Uh, can you see...?"

"Tsk. I can see a... door? That's all. If all these people would just be quiet, maybe I could..."

Even straining his eyes up onto the roof, he could barely make out an exit at the back of the park, and a faint noise mingling with the voices of the crowd.

After a few moments, the crowd fell silent because of the strange sound, which gradually grew louder with each passing second.

“AAAAAH! GAH!”

A woman ran through the crowd, fleeing, even tripping on her way.

When Chase looked back at the door to find out what was happening, he realized that the fearful woman's fear was far from unfounded.

But that scream came from someone else, from more than one individual.

Many.

In the darkness of the early morning, where only a few lanterns illuminated the settlements, a deep nostalgic feeling invaded both of their minds. Because amidst the darkness of the night, Chase immediately glimpsed the multiple figures scaling the gates at the exit.

Without even worrying about the barbed wire attached to them, these creatures crossed, entering the park en masse.

An ocean of corpses.

"Shit... T-They are…! DREAMERS!"

"H-Huh?!"

Chase's warning had been useless. The Dreamers advanced relentlessly, attacking the amusement park residents in their path.

Strangely, he had noticed something different. This time, it wasn't just the residents who were the victims, but they themselves as well. But he didn't pay much attention to that. His focus had to shift to the immediate priorities.

He didn't hesitate to take Rousset's hand, who quickly figured out what was happening and climbed over the small houses just like him.

"W-What do we do?!"

"..."

Grinding his teeth, Chase couldn't help but tremble with fear.

For a moment, he remembered the difficulty those beings had dealing with the fences in the institute. They were fast, strong, but not very skilled.

From their position, they at least had some advantage in escaping as quickly and with minimal risk, but, of course, they weren't the only ones thinking the same thing.

"You...!"

In the midst of the chaos, a familiar face rose at their feet.

"S-Sarays! It's her!" Rousset announced, kneeling down.

No one could forget that girl's picturesque dress and deep black eyes.

She had immediately scoured the amusement park after receiving news from neighbors and residents about a strange growling noise they were hearing at the back exit. Being a trusted person in the city and with free access to the park, she was asked to check with others.

At first, she thought it was a stray animal or a malfunctioning device. She had no idea what she would actually find.

Rousset hurriedly tried to reach the girl's hand. She might not be able to hold it alone, but Chase was with her. However, the pressure of the Dreamers pushing the civilians fleeing from them was too strong for a simple catch.

"Gh! ...Ah! I-I can't!"

"Mm! A-A little... more, Sarays!"

As she managed to grab her hand and pull her through the crowd, Rousset was surprised by her own strength, smiling nervously. However, the weight would soon accumulate to the point where it would be unbearable. An unknown man joined in, leaning on Sarays, hoping they would help him up as well.

"Please help me, girls..."

"Ah!"

Chase hadn't noticed yet, but Rousset was close to falling into the crowd, victim of gravity.

He was distracted by something worst.

The wave of Dreamers was growing steadily. It wasn't just a few, after all. They numbered dozens, doubling the number of civilians in their path.

That wasn't all. The thrusts turned into bites, and the scratches into severe lacerations.

Unfazed by the shocking scene, Chase finally saw them: their erratic behavior and eyes as red as the blood splattered on their torn clothes.

The massacre was taking place once again. And he could do nothing to stop it from coming.

"C-CHASE!"

"...!"

Reeling from Rousset's scream, he quickly shook his head and turned to look at her.

Her body was mere inches from the edge of the house. A few more moments and she would be swept away by the tumult.

Chase was about to help her, but after what he saw, something told him the situation was hopeless.

"HAAAH!"

Letting out a cry of despair, he sat down next to Rousset and stretched out a leg in order to push the unknown man holding onto Sarays, and Sarays, away.

"What...!? W-What are you doing!? Chase!"

"Let them go!"

Ignoring her words, one of the repeated kicks was aimed directly at Sarays's face, causing her to fall to the ground from the momentum, taking the unknown man with her.

Finally free and after seeing that, Chase grabbed Rousset and pulled her away as quickly as possible.

As they continued climbing the houses one after another to the top, the last thing either of them saw of Sarays was her face being crushed, this time by the frenzied crowd amidst her own screams of agony.

Despite having traveled a long way, they still heard the screams.

They were unavoidable.

At the top of the buildings, Rousset and Chase managed to enter a room with a wide view.

It was a settlement under construction, so the gray concrete pillars, iron rods, and lack of windows and furniture gave the impression of a larger empty space than it actually was; a good place to catch one's breath without losing awareness of one's surroundings.

"Ah! Ah... Gah... Ah..."

"What's happening?! CHASE!"

"Shut up! Shit."

Leaning against the pillars, Rousset asked, confused.

She didn't want to make the same mistake twice. She really didn't.

But she felt strange for some reason.

The reason: she was calm. Her agitation stemmed from nothing more than the previous physical exertion, but her feelings didn't respond to what was happening around her, to the disastrous events passing through her eyes. She held her head, constantly massaging her eyes.

Perhaps the decision they had just made calmed them. It was a rational decision, after all. If the situation had continued for a second longer, Rousset would have been dragged in with Sarays and the others.

Did they feel comfortable convincing themselves of that?

The noise of their argument caused them to be spotted. The Dreamers climbed faster than before. It seemed as if they became more adept at it the more they practiced.

"Shit! Shit!"

They both resumed their runaway, carefully but hastily crossing the scaffolding and ladders they encountered.

If they managed to circle the building, they could find steps that would take them to lower floors and thus leave the Dreamers behind. Although they were apparently becoming good at climbing, they expected that they might have difficulty managing convoluted paths.

Although they ran as fast as their own bodies allowed and sweat dripped from their foreheads, they showed no signs of exhaustion except in their expressions. This was surprising, considering that after a long day of traveling, they had now been suddenly awakened in the middle of the night, with no opportunity for proper rest.

They had finally reached a lumberyard; craft tools, carpentry tools, and timbers could be found everywhere. However, they still couldn't see the light of a clear exit.

Under the site's floodlights, Rousset and Chase retreated slowly.

There were no higher floors to escape to, no ladder to climb. They were completely cornered.

"C-C-Chase!" Desperate, Rousset linked arms with the boy.

Chase's desperation was spreading. The relative calm they had felt seconds before was fading by then, as they saw the dark shadows of these creatures prowling around and stalk them like preys.

Their behavior was the same as what they'd seen at San Ramael High School; it was unpredictable, random. It would be impossible to know with certainty and precision what they would do from one second to the next.

The grunt of a small Dreamer to one side caught Chase's attention. Thanks to it, he could glimpse that a set of wooden planks were within easy reach from their position.

They were at the highest point of the building, so they couldn't escape upward. There were no doors or steps leading down to lower floors.

By elimination, there was only one option left: crossing between buildings.

Next to the building was a second one, separated by a passageway approximately 5 meters wide. An athletic and daring person might consider taking a run-up and jumping those 5 meters. Perhaps the daring and bold Doger, his classmate, would have been able to do it, Chase thought with clear reluctance.

He himself was anything but that. But humans don't survive based on their physical capacity, but on their ability to adapt. That's the assumption.

One of the planks was long enough to function as a bridge, and so they used it.

The little Dreamer had changed direction, completely ignoring the duo. Strangely, he knelt down and began playing with the ants that were passing by his feet. More than ignoring, he seemed to pay not the slightest attention to their existence.

This was the opportunity Chase needed, and he decided to take it.

"W-What are you doing?! Don't leave me!"

Rousset watched as the boy stepped aside to hold the board with both hands and place it between the edges of both buildings.

She understood the message immediately, so once the board was in place, she climbed onto it to cross to the other side.

"Gh! Aa!"

The Dreamers' murmurs forced her not to think about it too much, and once she took the first step, she realized it was a mistake to be reckless; the board was precariously wide, thin.

Fearfully, she had to walk a tightrope.

"Hey!"

Chase had actually intended to be the first to cross, but he'd been distracted. One of these Dreamers made an unexpected dash against an iron pole, and he barely managed to avoid it.

However, the Dreamer's impact against the pole was so forceful enough that it not only opened a large wound on his own forehead, but also disconnected one of the few spotlights illuminating the construction area.

"GYAA!"

This caused Rousset to stagger so hard that, due to the reflex, she ducked and grabbed the board.

"Ah! GOD! I-I'll fall!"

The situation was turning out to be critical for both of them.

On the floor, at that moment, Chase had finally seen a Dreamer face to face. The thought that crossed his mind was that this was just an ordinary person. Someone just like him. He was, in fact, a fan of a band Chase also listened to; it was evident from the symbols on his shirt.

A random idea, but if he had known him before the world turned into what it was today, they probably would have gotten along.

After hearing a groan of pain behind him, Chase realized Rousset was no longer on the board.

She couldn't hold on any longer. She had fallen into the void.

"...Ah, ah ah."

So he turned, with a ragged breath, to the Dreamers gathered in front of him.

What had happened to Earlene and the others? Had his stubbornness led him to this fate? Thinking Izzy's group had better luck seemed stupid. That hadn't changed, and it never would.

His options were gone.

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

To be continued…