Adam returned to the facility, blushing red with embarrassment."Okay, I'm back... sigh..."All those cool lines he had said earlier felt so cliché and cringe. Adam wanted to hit his head against the wall right now. Sigh. But then—a thought appeared.
"Why are you so... kind? Like, as if we were friends from a long time ago?"Adam couldn't shake the thought. Why was Yuruki so friendly to a stranger she had just met?
Yuruki, sliding across the room on a wheeled chair, teased him with a smile and a pen in her hand."Oh, just a feeling, I guess... like I want to help you."
That made him chuckle a bit.
"...?" Yuruki looked confused for a moment, but quickly regained her composure."There's something... you need a vehicle, right?"Yuruki hesitated. The transference signal from the last group of people had disappeared somewhere on the north side of the stratum.
She walked ahead and said, "Follow me."
Adam followed her through the inner parts of the facility. They reached a sealed gate. Yuruki took out a red ball, pressed it like a code, and the gate opened with a heavy creak. Inside was a vehicle—what seemed to be a truck.
Yuruki smirked."I had a little project decades ago."
Adam's eyes widened.She built a truck?! How the duck...? Truly a prodigy.
He walked closer, inspecting it. It looked like an old German truck, aged but intact.As he turned back—clickYuruki had a gun pointed at his head, her face blank.
"Forgive me"
What...? No... Was I too complacent? Ugh, I'm so stupid...Rehan, what do I do?!
[...]
Then, with a soft whisper, "Bang."It was a blank shot—Yuruki was teasing him.
She handed him the gun, smirking.
Adam was extremely annoyed, but he learned a lesson: never let your guard down again.
Yuruki smiled."You're too ignorant, Adam," she said, pulling him closer to the vehicle. "Now go!"
Sigh.How do I even drive this thing...?Adam imagined what Yoku would have done driving the Kettenkrad.It's the same, right?
"Yuruki... thank you."
"That's new, Adam."
"When we meet again... I hope I'll get to know you better."
"Same for me."
Adam raised his fist.Yuruki tilted her head, confused. "What's that?"
"A fist bump."
"...?"Still puzzled, Yuruki mimicked him and bumped her fist against his.Adam started the truck, driving off awkwardly, fighting against the roaring winds.
"I hope you survive," Yuruki whispered, clutching her own hand tightly as she disappeared back into the facility.
Meanwhile,Yoku went to his own workstation.Alisto, his little robot assistant, followed behind, carrying wrenches and tools, eager to help.
"Sorry, not today," Yoku said as he lifted Alisto onto the Kettenkrad."Yuri, you go on ahead. I'll follow after I call Adam."
But—
The sound of fire. Screams. Shouts. Chaos.
Exhausted and despairing, Yoku grabbed molotovs, explosives, emergency supplies—and ran outside.
Thousands of automatons marched in.Massive titanic robots with four legs.Flying drones that blackened the sky like a swarm of birds.
Yoku collapsed against the side of a ruined wall.Can I even survive this?
It was suffocating.There was no escape.
Everyone around him watched helplessly as Death itself approached.
Yuri grabbed his hand."I'll hide the kids!" she cried, running off.
A red-haired girl approached Yoku, hands on her hips, a few people at her back.
"It's frustrating, isn't it?" she said, her voice heavy. "All your hard work... going to ruin. Hahh... sigh... If only I didn't live in this world."
"C'mon, master! We have to go!"A boy beside her pulled her away toward evacuation.
Groups of soldiers—twenty to thirty of them—rushed to form protective lines around the kids and adults.
Yoku, barely standing, grabbed a Red Cross helmet from the Kettenkrad.I'm so tired...It's hard to even breathe.
Two girls in military uniforms bumped into him—one with short yellow hair, the other with long black hair with a slash decoration through it.They looked so young, like scared little potatoes...how do they look human.?
They turned to leave, but Yoku rasped, "Wait."
Pointing to a group fleeing toward the horizon, he said,"Don't follow them."He handed them a hand-carved map."I carved this... follow it. It leads to the lower stratum."
The girls hesitated, but nodded fearfully.The black-haired one whispered, "Thank you, sir," before they drove off on a small Kettenkrad of their own.
The dust and smoke swallowed the town.
Yoku stared after them.Why did I help those kids? as if it was force to help
Meanwhile, Yuri tucked Mino and Kineki under a blanket on another Kettenkrad, trying to keep them safe.
Yoku closed his eyes for a second.He remembered a past long buried experience, with adam on the old structured ruined, talking about a God
Please... if there's a God... help me. I beg you. I can't do this alone...just let my friends live
His heart poured out from his chest.
Was about to fall and collapse, yoku having an existential dread