Soul Nexus. Volume 1: Before Dawn

19

I looked everywhere and there was nothing: empty drawers, empty shelves, also the cupboard was empty. What a problem it was to live in a poor, worn-out hut; but even so, it couldn't be an excuse for not having a single damn match!

Max: 『 Shit!! It just had to be today!! 』

My head was beginning to cloud with anguish. I needed to hurry, Shun was fighting alone out there, if I didn't help him soon, he wouldn't last much longer and the invaders would enter the colony.

I was looking for anything that could help me light the bomb. I looked through the furniture in our room and there were only the few clothes we had and some old and wrinkled books that we kept, but nothing that was useful.

I went to mom's bedroom and made a mess of her things. I accidentally found her underwear and I was embarrassed, I avoided touching it and decided to take the outside of the drawer and empty it. I rummaged through her clothes, her closet and her dresser, but I had no luck, I only found more clothes and makeup.

I cursed myself for being so unlucky. I saw my disappointing face in my mother's mirror, full of stress and shame. Then the idea occurred to me. It took me a long time to notice it『 How did it not occur to me before?! 』 I grabbed the drawer that I took out of the furniture and threw it at the glass, shattering it into multiple pieces. I picked up the most curved one and ran out of the house.

Max: 『 Good! With this I can−! 』

Workers: 『 AAAAAAAAAH!!! 』

I heard again the terrified screams of the workers. I ran to the colony to see what was happening and everyone was fleeing from a group of soldiers who were chasing them through the streets of the neighborhood. I should have guessed it before, I was too slow and things were already getting worse.

The invaders entered to the houses and massacred anyone they found inside, it didn't matter if they were children or elderly, they simply murdered them. Some tried to resist to save their families and give them time to escape, but they paid the price and ended up mutilated by the merciless gray soldiers.

Every house I passed, I found the same horrifying image of an open door showing bloody lifeless bodies on the floor. There were at least ten homes that I found like this; an elderly couple, a mother hugging her daughter, a young couple expecting their first child; More than a dozen people lost their lives at the hands of the invaders' assault.

If I'd just been as fast as Shun, I would have saved so many people from dying. My inability to direct people caused them to lose their calm and disperse everywhere, instead of keeping them in a group and evacuating them orderly and on time. This was my fault.

I tried to reach the invaders to stop them, but there were several of them and they were scattered throughout the colony, I couldn't go for all of them at once.

Terrified girl: 『 Dad!!! 』

Distressed worker: 『 Stay back!!... ¡¡¡G−GET AWAY!!! 』

Mocking invading soldier: 『 Ha, ha, ha!! 』

However, I still had to make things right. I arrived at a shack in time to stop one of them before he stabbed a father and his daughter. I stuck the glass in his leg and he knelt, I snatched the spear from him and hit him with it.

The father was frozen with fear and was breathing heavily. His daughter ran to him and hugged his hand tightly, clinging to it with her eyes closed and full of terror. The man took her and held her in his arms.

Terrified girl: 『 Dad!! 』

Distressed worker: 『 ¡¡Oh, sweetie!! Don't worry, it's over! It's over... Thank you. 』