Trinity City Ch.2

         The shock of the news had subsided after an hour or so of them getting the news. Zain had fallen asleep, clinging onto her brother for comfort. Natalie returned from her room with a backpack full of her belongings in tow. Rocs moved Zain to her bed and walked over to Ryuscaine, who looked deep in thought sitting off of the side of his bed. "Yo, Ryu... Realistically... What are we looking at?" Ryuscaine looked at him, then sighed and folded his arms. "A quick and certain death, in a day probably. A week if we're lucky."
         Rocs clinched his fists and was visibly mad. "What do those... Those.... Pendejos think this will accomplish?" Natalie walked over to them, setting her stuffed backpack next to her bed, and sat next to them. "In the times we are in, people will do what they can if they believe they will survive longer. Just think about it for a second. Every time we go out, whether it is for food, supplies and anything else, people have died but we always come back. So, in there minds, we are probably a symbol of bad luck and of certain death. If they get rid of us... Then, by what they believe, life will go on." Rocs punch at the wall in a blind fury, but stopped before it connected and looked at his sleeping sister. He walked over to her and brushed the hair away from her face, showing a nearly dried tear on her cheek. "I haven't seen her cry since this whole thing started... That was nearly four years ago to this day. To see her break down as she did... Almost puts what happened into prospective."
         The room fell silent, it was as if a thick cloud had squandered all sound. Rocs walked out of the room and Ryuscaine stood up and stretched a bit. "We should finish packing and get some rest, we're gonna need it if we wish to outlive the sunset." He walked by Natalie, who had started to read a book with strange markings. "What's that Nat?" Natalie looked away from her book for a second, then went back to reading it. "Found it with my stuff, like a departure gift I guess. Had a sticky note on it saying 'I hope this helps you survive.' Don't know how it will though." Ryuscaine shrugged and headed out to his and Rocs' room to grab his stuff. Natalie started to read some of the words outloud. "Fa-ru-na." When she said this she saw a faint glow in the room that made her sit up quickly, but the light dimmed before she could see what it had come from.
          Ryuscaine caught up to Rocs and both of them looked at the door to their room. It had spray paint on it, condemning the place. Rocs chuckled and patted Ryuscaine's back. "Hey, looky here, we got a Satan's star on our door. Guess that means we're entering hell before another hell, huh. It'll be hell-ception" He chuckled and opened the door. Clothing was scattered all over the floor, the beds were a mess, even the fish tank was dirty. "I think they cleaned it up a bit for us, Rocs." Ryuscaine opened his nightstand and started putting items into his backpack. Rocs started to do the same. "Think we should clean this up first?" They looked around their room and almost simultaneously said "nah" and went to finish packing their backpacks. Rocs had a second bag with him and walked out with it. "I'mma go and get Zain's stuff ready for her, go get some rest man. Be back in a bit." Ryuscaine nodded his head, and wandered back to get some sleep.
         The following morning felt as if time had hurried to meet them. They were escorted out by the man that had given them their grim fate. "I do apologize for this... Inhuman action, but the people around here have spoken. Even after I spoke against it they demanded this action be taken... Does this make us as primitive as them?" Ryuscaine was walking ahead of everyone and muttered. "Makes you wonder who the real monsters are. Meh, pretty sure it is still those fleabags." Everyone stood at the door, it was clicking as the gears started to shift to open. All four of them, with a weapon visibly on them, watched as the door slowly creaked open. All four of them, their faces masked with a shield of emotionless courage, walked outside and waited for the door to close behind them.
         "So this is it, huh... What do we do now? Nat, Ryu either of you have an idea?" Rocs turned to them who were looking out at the city. Ryuscaine sighed and scratched his head. "Going to the city is certain suicide... if we run along the wall to the harbor, if we can make it before sunset, we'll have a better chance of surviving the first night from there." All of them moved quickly along the high wall to the east of the city. As they were running, Zain moved close to Natalie. "Miss magic, can you tell me why we have a harbor if  the city is closed off?" Natalie, rolling her eyes at the nickname, and looked at Zain. "It was so we could have seafood and the likes. Many people, when they made this city, didn't want to be without it. So, they made one of the few exits to the city about a mile out into the water. The amount they could get normally was minuscule. Which is why nearly all of it was imported to the high-class estates What wasn't was taken to breeding farms so they'd always have some in case the catch was too small. Speaking of which, I've always wondered what salmon tasted like." Zain looked at Natalie and smiled, humming a tune as she ran beside her.
         It didn't take them as long as they expected to run all the way to the harbor. The port had one downed ship after another, and an area so full of derbies that it looked like a landfill. They walked over to a nearly destroyed, but still legible, sign on the ground. "Trinity beach, please keep it litter free." Rocs looked out at the beach. "Dang, use to love com'in' here with the family. Padre would grab everyone a soda from the cooler and we'd relax as the waves came in... Not a care in the world. Seems like a fond dream now that had never existed." They looked at Rocs and before long Ryuscaine walked up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Oi, man. Stop being emo, we've gotta move. Our best shot at living is a-" He was cut off as Natalie jerked his shoulder around and pointed at a male human that was running towards them. A football field's length behind him was one of the creatures running on all four. It looked like a werewolf of mythology with some shredded and torn clothing on, but it looked more wolf than man. Only human feature it had was how the hands and body were shaped. It ran at him at full speed, catching up to him quickly.
         Zain ran quickly past the human and pulled out her Ithaca-37 shotgun. In what seemed like slow motion, Zain clubbed the wolf with the butt of the gun, spun the shotgun around, cocked it, and shot it's lower jaw off. The wolf twitched as the group could hear howling in the distance. Rocs ran over and grabbed Zain's hand, pulling her along as they ran. "This is bad, this is bad, they're going to be coming." Said the guy from before, he got everyone to follow him to a butcher shop and they went into the meat locker with a steel door that had claw marks all over it. The guy made sure the door was locked and before long they heard slamming sounds against it. "Okay then, I should thank you guys for that, one stupid mistake and it could have been over for me. Thought everyone outside had been dead for a long time." He slumped against the solid metal wall and looked at them. The man seemed to be in his mid-thirties with jet black hair going slightly past his shoulders, with a long scar from his cheek to part of his neck. He was paler than a ghost and he had on a badly torn, dirty, sleeveless black t-shirt. It was tucked into some faded blue jeans that had a black leather belt around it. He was missing a shoe and the one shoe he had looked to be on it's last legs with a hole in the toes and the sole was missing..
         "My name is Zack... Theron, though, names seem so unimportant in these times. For the next few days, those demons will be flooding the streets around here. What surprised me about you guys is that you have a gun that works, most of the ones I've seen were pretty much destroyed, or empty" Zain looked at her shotgun and put it behind her. Everyone sat down and looked at Zack, who looked eerily calm. Zack looked at them and sighed. "You're all kids... How have you survived this long, where's your family... or is that something I shouldn't ask about?" They looked at each other and Ryuscaine spoke up. "We've stuck together, it hasn't been easy, but what could be in this life?" Zack chuckled and moved his hair away from his good eye. "Dying is, though... There has been too much of that over these four years. It tires me so just to think about it."
         "In a few days time it should be safe to move... there is a safe house not far from here. Been there for some time." Zack looked at the four of them, obviously not paying attention and talking amongst themselves. He shrugged and yawned, staring at the ceiling for a while. "Any ideas?" Ryuscaine looked around at them. Rocs shrugged "We could go with this guy to his safe house... Course, we don't know how long the streets will be infested." Natalie looked at Zack. "He's hiding something, but he doesn't feel malicious. What do you think Ryu?" Ryuscaine looked at him, then looked back. "He just seems hollow, so he probably made a mistake that cost lives. He probably holds that on his shoulders."
         Zain sat next to Zack who jumped when she poked his side. She stared at him with a blank expression then smiled at him. "Hi person, you seem tired." Zack looked at her and tilted his head. "Just a bit... You seem... Oddly happy?" Zain nodded her head. "That's cause big bro is here, and my shotgun. Both of them together makes me feel safe." Zack chuckled and looked at her. "I ended up leaving my weapon back at the safe house... stupid I know, but there was a family on the surface. I distracted the wolf while they made a beeline for the safe house. I hope they made it." Zain tilted her head, her smile not changing. "Who knows, life is fragile. They might have, they might have not. Either way, it doesn't really effect us. Death is just part of the cycle of life we all must face." Zain stood up and walked back over to the group.
         Ryuscaine sighed and looked up. "We should stay as quiet as we can. They may leave us alone after a while... I'm going to sleep." Rocs chuckled and patted Ryuscaine's back. "Then we should bag your head, you make more noise in your sleep than you do when you're awake." Ryuscaine scoffed and belted. "I don't snore that loudly!" A rush of howls, followed by a loud scream from outside, made the group quiet down quickly. After all the noise went away, they stayed quiet for thirty minutes more before beginning to discuss their situation.
         Natalie huddled into the corner and started reading her new book away from everyone. Ryuscaine and Rocs started to play rock paper scissors, best of a hundred wins. Zain stared off into space, looking over at Zack who was either sleeping with his eyes open, or was just deathly still. Everyone had been quiet, till Natalie sneezed, everyone jumped and stayed silent for a few seconds. Rocs sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "They may still be out there, I mean who knows what was screaming out there."
          Zack raised an eyebrow. "You just said what, not who... What do you mean?" Ryuscaine leaned against the wall, and thought for a moment. "Let me explain. The... higher ranked wolves, as far as we've seen, appear to be intelligent enough to devise tactics. I've seen them do that before. fake a scream, make a group run to the rescue, and slaughter them for their 'good deed.' Sounds weird... I know, but that's how it is." Zack looked puzzled and stood up. He stretched he back then rubbed the back of his neck. "I've been underground most of the time during these four years, so I am very... uneducated in the sense of how to survive on the surface." Natalie scoffed, looking up from her book. "Hence why you left your weapon back at the bunker." Zack gave a slight glare at Natalie, before sighing and wandering around the locker.
         Rocs looked at Ryuscaine, who was looking around the room. "Trying to find grub? You know we won't be able to find anything... considerably edible." Ryuscaine stopped and looked at him. "I know, I am checking if there is a second way out, we know there is a trap waiting at the other side of that door." He points at the large door that is sealed tightly shut. Rocs sighed and picked up his back pack. "But this room is nearly empty, we can see everything here just from doing this." Rocs turned his head and looked from one side of the room to the other. "Nope, don't see anything." Ryuscaine slapped the back of his head. "Don't be a smart ass, that's my job. Now, either we make a break for his bunker." He points at Zack who is messing with the crates in the corner. "Or we hod out here until we think it's safe."
         Natalie stood up, stretched her back, and rubbed her back side. "Okay, I'm already tired of being here. The cold metal ground made my butt numb as hell. So, do we have a plan at all?" All of them pondered until Zain jumped on Rocs' back and with a big smile said. "I may have an idea, don't worry, we may keep all of our limbs." All of them looked at her with aggravated faces. Ryuscaine sighed, "Actually Zain, I may have a better idea than what I think you're thinking." He gathere everyone together, including zack, and started to discuss his plan.