Shift

Many moments earlier.

On the outskirts of a city-state known as Vanad, layed a young man who was on the run. He wore a hat and a heavy coat to conceal himself. He walked for hours at a time, looking to where he could make a temporary stop.

Hm.

Then he spotted a farm and a home, with a field full of crops. He wanted to go there to ask for any food or water. The man did not own much and always moved from one shelter to another so as to not be found by any type of authority.

It’s still pretty far away…

He wondered how to properly ask whoever was in the home for aid. He even thought about the possibility of spending the night there if he offered to work for them. This was the best time to head over to the farm before someone recognized him.

The man got closer to the home, but was still a ways away as he was simply walking. He didn’t want anybody from the outside to see him going somewhere else, nor did he want to alarm the owners of the farm so he chose to sneak, bending his knees and lowering his position when he was on the point of leaving the city.

When was closer he could see bright lights through the window and hear talking—or rather, shouting.

What's going on in there?

To his luck, he was seen—caught by a woman, who wore a long black dress. She was almost as tall as him.

“Hey l-look. I’m not trying to steal anything or break in, I just wanted to ask for food, or just a cup of water—”

The woman took his hand pulling him upwards and walked away heading to the front of the house. She said not a single word but the man took it as an invitation.

***

Present time.

The Man walked to the lady and knelt down. He remembered where Johnny had hit her and wanted to turn her on her left side to look at her shoulder. She put her hand on his collar gently pushing him back.

“Can you get up by yourself?”

She used his body to pull herself to stand. Though she wanted to make space between her and the man, she was still holding him to be able to get up.

Then she did make her space. She pointed Nate’s pistol at the man, even touching his chest with it.

“Hey calm down, calm down!” he told her in a quieter tone, “I’m not gonna do anything, I’ll leave if you want.” He slowly took a steps back one at a time until he was very much out of her reach.

I don’t blame her if she shot.

But that guy right now, his son, I wanted to check on him too.

Moving her attention elsewhere, the lady held the handle of the pistol with both hands rather firmly, and targeted Nate.

The man was quick in responding in time. “I told you, it wasn’t worth it!” he said, taking out his pistol as well.

“Just relax! Let me look at him and then…I’ll think of something, but don’t shoot!”

Just as before, she stood in place, keeping her pose, keeping her eyes on Nate but still not doing a single thing. She waited, and it was only a matter of time before someone would react again.

BANG

“I’m not kidding! Don’t do anything!” The man gave a warning, shooting at what was next to her to get her attention.

BANG

“I’M SERIOUS!”

She lowered her arms and took a look at him. Though in his eyes she seemed less hostile, he didn’t put down his weapon immediately.

“Just calm down…no one’s gonna hurt you.”

Suddenly she dropped the pistol and turned her back, she made her way to the staircase to go up.

Dumbfounded, the man did not know if he should follow her. It wasn’t his house, and he did not want to know what other phenomena there could be.

What’s she doing? Whatever, I’ll check on this guy then get that gun away from her.

When inspecting Nate, he saw black marks across the right side of his face. It wasn’t so strange to him, he almost confused it with dirt. However when he looked closer, he saw it barely moving—moving that part of Nate’s face. It spooked the man, making him recoil further than where he was standing originally.

Then footsteps were heard. Coming down the stairs very steadily the lady was holding a small torn piece of paper, she held onto it tightly with just her thumb and middle finger. With the same hand she went to pick back up the pistol. She directed her attention to the man this time.

Godammit hold on!

She went toward with her arm stretched out to give him the paper.

“I thought you gave up on trying to shoot!”

In her right shoulder—

BANG

She dropped everything, even her own weight.

Why’d you have to make me—! I told you to stop!

He pounded his fist on the floor, upset at himself for what he just did. Then he noticed how hard hit the floor, as if he didn’t really care, but only cared just enough to make an appropriate reaction.

I’m doing terrible, like back then when I was younger.

I should feel way worse about this.

The man lightly tapped his head to rid himself of those thoughts and focus on what was in front of him. When he saw her shoulder, he was a bit surprised.

“You’re not bleeding that much. That’s strange because it wasn’t just a graze.”

He slowly lifted her. There were not many places on which he could rest the lady, much of the furniture was turned over. Nonetheless, he would try to use his foot to kick a chair upright to sit her.

The lady showed little to no emotion staring at the floor, notably at Anna’s broken body. She grabbed the man’s arm and pointed to the door from where he originally entered.

“What’s wrong?”

She pulled herself upwards using his arm as support and was making her way there.

“Wait, don't move too much! You shouldn't even be going anywhere!”

Out the door the man was met with a very unfamiliar scenery.

“I gotta check on the other guy Na—”

What happened…?

The farm with crops and fields was now just a barren wasteland, before he could even process it, the wind hit him abruptly as well. It pushed the two violently to the ground, the man landed on his side whereas the lady softened the fall with her hands, taking most of the force.

Drip...

She stared at them, she saw they were bruised and bleeding, yet it didn't trouble her one bit.

“Hey! Come on! It’s not safe out here, we're gonna get lost!”

What even is this?! We gotta get back inside!

He held onto his hat and looked behind himself to keep track of where the house was amongst the dirt and dust continuously being swept by the strong winds.

There’s no way—

To another of his many surprises, the house was no longer there. The man panicked and got upset, thinking about Nate, and even the other pistol.

“HOW?!” he said, completely baffled at everything thus far. “Hey…you alright?” He called out to the lady, turning his head unwillingly, afraid that she too might have disappeared. She was simply still, looking in the opposite direction.

“See anything?” He approached her and tried to see what she was seeing, there were two things. One was a tall, modern building, it had no place being in an area such as where the two were situated. Another thing the man spotted was a pair, two other people far in the distance. He had no idea, along with everything else, how that building even existed there. But he concluded that there was no point in questioning things that he wouldn’t find an immediate answer to, so he tried to keep the little calm he had left and find help for him and the lady.

"Let’s go over there," he told her, holding her to help her walk, "those guys could help us."

By a very small amount, the ground made cracks near them. The levels of the surface of the land changed; there were small hills leading downwards, upwards, bumps projected and stood in their path. And all of these changes did not particularly bother the man, only because when he got closer to seeing the strangers, he could visibly see what they were holding.

He locked eyes with them before speaking up.

"Hey…" The man almost wished he hadn’t seen them. "Hold on a second." Their weapons outmatched his. One of the two strangers pointed at him and the lady. The other was occupied with two hounds held back by a long cord, barking and moving around constantly.

"The hell did you come from? I never seen your face around here before."

"I'm just lost and— "

"Nah, you’re comin’ from that house right?"

"House...?"

"Yeah, house! I’m talking about Johnny's place, we can’t find it in this damn wind. But what business you got with him?" One of the strangers was a little taller and thinner than him. His face was telling of how unsettled and distressed he was. The look on the face of his partner was that of annoyance and unwelcomeness.

"So what do we do with him?"

"We ask him questions of course! What's your name boy?" He held the dogs back carefully when walking up to the man. "I'm listenin’."

"Why?" the man responded quickly and confidently.

"I'll tell you mine if you do." he said.

"Then I'm listening."

He sarcastically chuckled, then spoke closer to his face, "I'm Cal, and that over there is Jarid, and I'll let these dogs bite your ass if you don't start talkin’. Who are you and what were you doing at that house?"

The man's eyes narrowed, and he talked back to Cal, "What’s this house about? And who's Johnny supposed to be?"

"We got a certain problem with Johnny, and we were supposed to help him out with that problem. ‘Cause he's a friend."

"You guys look like cops looking for a criminal. What kind of problem is there that you need dogs and guns for?" he said, letting out a deep and loud sigh.

Looking for Johnny, so….

Were they going to fight him, or with him? Against that Anna person he killed?

"Jarid, take these, and give me one of those." Cal gave the leashes to Jarid for him to hold to use one of the weapons they were carrying. He placed the barrel of the rifle directly against the man's chest. He didn't move an inch, not because he was afraid, but in fact, the opposite.

“The hell are you doing?”

“Since you don’t wanna cooperate and say what you were doing at his house I might as well just shoot ya.”

“How do you that I—”

“‘Cause you could’ve said a long ass time ago, that you got no idea who Johnny was, but you keep asking suspicious questions that make me believe that that ain’t the case!”

He’s right, but I had to know something.

"And why are you covering up your face boy? Scared that I find out who you are or somethin’?"

"Tsk. I was just looking for help."

"Should've gone somewhere else, ‘cause that ain't the place to go to. And I think you know something you shouldn't."

"Like what?"

"I think you know what it is," Cal said as he applied more pressure to his chest, "if that’s the case I might wanna shoot you just to be safe, then I’ll ask this girl next if you don't say nothin’."

"You really wanna know?" the man asked.

“Yes boy!”

The lady took a glance at the man, she waited to hear what his next response would be, interested in what he would say.

"If it isn't what I'm thinkin’ it is. Then I'll let you go. "But I might just come back for you to make sure y'all two don't say a thing."

She directed her eyes away from him and to the ground.

“Alright.” The man didn’t plan anything, he began to speak what he saw with no hint of a lie. “At first I saw one guy, he might have been around my age. He told me to leave, yet I didn’t. I thought it was weird but when I went inside, everything felt off.

"Did anything happen?”

“Yeah.”

“Then keep goin’.”

Cal believed him and was even surprised at his straightforwardness. He expected him to tell a poor lie. Because of this he subconsciously put less pressure of his weapon on the man.

Bark

“Finish the damn story! These dogs are gonna run!” Jarid shouted at both Cal and the man. He almost wanted to let them go but retrieving them later would have found him much trouble.

“You heard him.”

The lady paid close attention.

“Well…then there was this woman. She was the most calm out of everyone in the house.”

She was staring at the ground right beneath her for a much extended period of time, seeing the distance between her and the man, the gap between Cal and Jarid, and how much space their hounds occupied.

“And what was her name?”

The lady lifted her head and looked back at the man.

“She told me I could call her—”

Push

She waited at the right time, succeeding in not only moving the man out of harm's way, but also in stunning Cal momentarily by striking his neck.

"HEY!" Jarid couldn't react right away, holding two hounds in one hand made it near to aim using the in the other. “She’s runnin’!”

When the man slid back, he made eye contact with the lady.

Are you crazy?

She turned her head away, and so did the man.

Good then, that was smart.

They ran in opposite directions, now both strangers had to separate.

"Jarid, go get her! Take the dogs with you! And give me the gun with more bullets! I'm getting that boy!"