Into The Unknown

Chapter 2

"On your knees... NOW!" The man choked through streams of tears, his hands shaking like a bomb ready to explode.

Amari got down on her knees carefully. Sudden movements would only encourage the man to shoot her. She played every possible escape and attack in her mind, taking mental notes of the gun and the man's physical state.

Unfortunately, this human didn't have an untreated wound on his left arm waiting to be gouged out.

The man stepped closer, until the gun's muzzle rested between her eyes. The man ripped off Amari's hood and rags that hid her face, revealing her pale skin and distant eyes. He moved his sight away from Amari in disgust. "You're a fucking Freak!" He yelled. "Of course you are! Only a Freak could murder with such disrespect for life."

Amari had met plenty of humans who fit that description.

One was standing in front of her.

He looked back with hate and anger festering in his eyes, but his body seemed to be unsure how to respond. The man clearly wasn't used to brutal violence like Amari was. That made him vulnerable.

"That girl on the road, that was my damn wife! Oh... My Angel..." he cried, now staring at the woman's corpse spread out on the road.

With the man's gaze distracted, Amari took advantage of the few seconds she had. She reached up and grasped onto the man's gun, before swiftly facing it back at the man's head. The erupting sound of the bullet piercing through the man's cranium was so fast he didn't even have the time to change his expression. He fell to the road and all light faded from his eyes.

He's with his wife now. In hell.

They'll probably have it easier there.

Amari, still holding onto the gun, jumped to her feet and surveyed the nearby area for any other attackers. It seemed they were alone, giving Amari a chance to breathe. Her shoulders relaxed and she lowered the pistol. It was just the two, trying to survive together in this harsh world. Amari gazed over at their bodies, their souls damned and already forgotten. She let out a small laugh as she thought about the idea of surviving with someone you loved - not the same love as you would feel for a sibling or parent, but for someone more.

Covering her face with the hood once more, she decided it'd be a horrible mistake.

You'd be signing your soul to the devil himself.

Amari examined the pistol for a quick moment, before tucking it into one of her pockets. It was a good gun, it was just being used by the wrong person. As she walked back over to her cart, Amari's sight drifted to a small animal lying dead on the road. For a brief moment, her mind drifted to the thought of roasting it above the campfire. It made her mouth water, it'd been a while since she'd eaten some decent meat.

Excited, she hurried over to its dead body. As she grew closer, it became clearer that it was a rabbit, but not one she could eat. It's fur was stained red, and large radiation burns travelled across its skin. And unlike normal burns, those wouldn't cook the meat. Most animals these days were much like that rabbit - Not dead, but something far worse. Amari was ready to turn around, but froze in place when she noticed the body of a girl behind cover. Amari reached for the pistol and pulled it out.

A trap. It has to be.

She crouched down and looked around once again. She stayed there for a good few minutes, watching the girl intently and waiting for her to move... But she didn't.

Amari cautiously walked closer to the body to get a better look. The girl was dressed in a dirty white and blue gown. Her hair was a chestnut brown, short but messy. Her skin had a golden glow that simmered in the sun, but was smeared with slime and blood. Black blood. Amari stared down at the girl's leg in shock.

How could someone bleed black blood?

She examined the rabbit beside the girl and pieced together what had happened. She bent down and checked the girl's pulse-faint, but still alive.

"How the hell are you still alive?" she asked aloud.

She shook her head and stared at the poor girl's face. A part of her knew she should've left the girl alone, but for once, she felt pity for a stranger. Her drawn face looked lost, hurt and confused. It reminded Amari of what she used to be. After a few short moments, Amari made her decision. She dragged the girl across the sand and lifted her up onto her cart. She wrapped the leg wound with a thin bandage, with the intent to stop the bleeding.

"What a day," Amari sighed and pulled the cart along the road.

Of all the mistakes Amari would make in her life, this was the largest.