The walk towards the highway only took about half an hour, the closer the group got, the more smaller the buildings became until they stopped at a refill station near the edge of the city.
Ahead of them was the long highway they'll have to take by foot to reach the small town. Neither Ki nor Akai wanted to traverse the long stretch.
The refill station was small with a couple of abandoned cars parked near the gas pumps and electric plugs. Akai and Ki spotted a cop car that looked like it still worked, if they can get it to run, they won't have to travel by foot anymore.
While they set off to get the vehicle started, (Y/N) decided to explore the small refill shop. Tuca was back in his emotionless true form, he stayed outside and leaned against one of the glass entrance doors while (Y/N) entered through the other.
As expected, the inside was ruined and trashed beyond repair. The entire counter was pulled from the floor and flipped onto its side, the snacks that littered the aisles were either molded or very stale, a TV was broken on the floor in a pile of glass shards, the door to the back of the shop was hanging on its hinges, and there was a faint smell of something rotting that made her scrunch her nose up. (Y/N) brandished her knife just in case anything was hiding inside.
She walked over to a donut case and cringed at the shriveled up moldy pastries and deserts. A picture placed on the case showed what they used to look like, all soft and delicious. Her stomach growled at the desirable food, she missed donuts already. Her appetite is getting tired of the deer Ki and Akai caught.
Moving away from the case, she froze in place when her eyes landed on a dark figure slumped against the wall towards the back of an aisle. It was a demon for sure, it had huge pointy ears that stuck out like a goblin, dark grey skin that was bloody and mauled, and huge muscular arms. Its eyes were closed and it wasn't moving, giving off the impression that it was dead.
(Y/N) kept her distance, she's wasn't convinced that it was dead if she didn't see it die. It looked so eery that she would scream if suddenly its head lifted up. Slowly backing away, she decided to head back outside where the others were. Where safety was.
On her way out though, her shoulder bumped into something and she jumped to the side with a quick yelp. The thing she bumped into was Tuca. He didn't notice her scared state but instead, stared curiously at the demon body. He approached and crouched down near it while (Y/N) watched, still shaking. How did she not hear him enter the store?
Tuca grabbed the ripped jacket the demon was wearing and pulled it away from its chest like he was inspecting something. Whatever he saw, made him perk up so (Y/N) slowly approached the body too, now curious. "Tuca?"
Suddenly, he grabbed the demon's head and pulled it towards him, sniffing around the corpse's neck.
'What the-?!' What was he doing?! (Y/N) gagged, she could already smell the decay from the front of the store, imagine being up close to the source.
Tuca dropped the body and stood up. He stared at it for a few more seconds before turning to the Keeper who had a sick look. "My dad was here."
Her wide eyes darted up to meet his. "What?!"
He pointed at the body that had multiples lashes and cuts so deep that its gut was exposed. She didn't see those injuries when its jacket was covering it. But the injuries were huge, it was like a lion caused them.
"My dad has claws that leave a smell on anything he attacks. He was here." He walked past her and towards the entrance, she followed but took a quick peek back at the body before exiting the store.
The attack seemed recent, maybe a month old. A demon's body doesn't start decaying till after a few weeks and this one looked to be in the stages of bloating. Her theory of Tuca possibly leading them to his family started to become more clear, why else would he suggest going north? And now there's proof of his family being around? If Tuca's father was here, he shouldn't be too far.
The two exited the shop and were met with the other two in the middle of putting power into the cop car. It was a funny sight since the electric plug they were supposed to use was ripped from the machine, same goes for the gas pump that wouldn't have worked anyway. The cop car was electric judging by the retractable wheels it had so it can hover up. Gas cars aren't made to do that because of the intense pollution they gave off.
"You know what, fuck this..." Akai grumbled as he pushed the hood open and gripped his hands on the battery. He noticed (Y/N) standing too close to the car and waved a hand at her so she can back away. "Move back."
Ki took her hand and led her behind a pillar while Tuca followed and watched what was going to happen.
(Y/N) peaked out from behind the pillar to see Akai focusing on doing something. His muscles strained as he hunched his back and his eyes started glowing a bright blue. "What's he doing?"
Not even a second later, sharp bolts of electricity emitted from Akai's arm and shot into the battery like lightning. Thunder came soon after and it was so loud that the remaining glass on the shop behind him shattered due to the vibrations. (Y/N) watched shocked, not expecting him to create his own lightning.
The lights on top of the vehicles sparked to life and a scratchy siren noise sounded through the speakers. However, both died down due to a small amount of power. Akai huffed and stepped back, trying to catch his breath. His stunt worked but he needed to do it one more time and his first attempt took a lot out of him. He looked up at the group behind the pillar and his eyes landed on the other transmute that just so happened to be useful again.
"Ay little shit, come here!"
Tuca looked around before pointing at himself while tilting his head.
Akai threw his arms up annoyed. "Who else do I call 'little shit'? Just get over here."
While Tuca made his way over to the worn out blond, Ki looked around at the area and the buildings behind them. That thunder was loud, hopefully, nothing heard them. The silent demon leaned against the pillar next to (Y/N), his eyes were droopy and he yawned, showing how sleepy he was. He had a full night's rest last night but now he's tired again?
She heard his yawn and looked up at him while he was rubbing his eyes. "Tired?"
He barely nodded as his eyes closed and he crossed his arms. It didn't help that it was still daytime and usually he's asleep around this time. Something about being in constant light makes him drowsy. But because he has to protect his love, he has to force his nocturnal side away and stay awake for her sake.
Another loud clap of thunder coming from the transmutes scared them both. Ki's eyes opened up quickly and he almost stumbled from his spot. Looking out from behind the pillar, (Y/N) saw Tuca with his hands on the engine and his hair standing straight up. His snake eyes were wide and he seemed frozen in place while Akai was behind him cracking up. The car fully started and the lights shined brightly but the siren seemed damaged as it only scratched up heavily. Akai grabbed the stunned boy by his shirt and pulled him away and towards the back seat door while still laughing. "Good job little shit! You almost killed yourself too!"
Ki took (Y/N)'s hand again, still shaken from jolting awake, and brought her over to the vehicle. She looked at Tuca with worry, this was the first time she's seen him make any expression in his true form. He looked shocked.
While Akai made his way to the driver's side, Ki used a portal to destroy the siren and stared at the vehicle before shifting his gaze over to the blond. "Do you know how to work this?"
"Nope. But I watched my-" He quickly shut up his sentence. Ki squinted his eyes at him but Akai avoided his gaze and entered the vehicle. "I'll figure it out."
The silent demon nodded unsurely but entered the passenger's seat anyways while (Y/N) climbed in next to Tuca in the backseat, who was just now recovering from his blast. His dizzy form slumped against the seat and his eyes started switching from yellow to green back to yellow then green again.
(Y/N) propped up her legs and leaned against the seat, facing the stunned boy. Her (e/c) eyes then went to Ki who looked ready to pass out asleep and Akai who got the car to pull out from its spot and drove it towards the highway. She's surprised that the vehicle still worked and the fact that a demon figured out how to work it. If anyone should be driving, it should be her but this outdated car was very different than the ones in the Zones.
The group was on the highway for two hours and still going. When Tuca said it was long, he wasn't exaggerating. There were no exits anywhere and the signs were too withered down to read if they were any close to the end or not. The highway seemed to cut through a forest filled with lakes and ponds filled with shrubbery, sticks, and the occasional car that somehow got over the railings. (Y/N) boredly counted about 25 lakes during the journey, each one was small besides two that stretched out. She had nothing else to do besides this.
Ki and Tuca both fell asleep after a while of driving, Ki because he was tired and Tuca because he passed out. Maybe that lightning took more out of him than Akai. (Y/N) was close to falling asleep and too but she thinks that at least two people should be awake, and right now, it was just her and the blond.
She gazed over at the back of his head. He's been oddly silent since they left the refill station. Usually, when the other two were asleep or not around, he would take the opportunity to make her fluster up to her annoyance. But now he wasn't doing anything. He couldn't think that she was asleep, she's been moving around a lot in the uncomfortable seat for the last hour.
(Y/N) leaned forward between the front to catch a glimpse of his face. His red eyes were focused on the road but he seemed deep in thought about something. His left arm was propped against the window as he leaned his head into his hand and a slight angered look was shown across his face that confused her. 'What is he so angry about?'
"Akai?"
Her voice caused him to snap back into reality. His angry mug softened up and he glimpsed at her before focusing back on the road. "Yea?"
She leaned back in her seat, still confused. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I thought you were asleep." He changed the subject.
"I wasn't... You seemed mad about something."
He huffed and looked at her through the dusty rearview mirror. "Nothing. Just remembering something."
"If I asked what that something is, will you tell me?"
"Nope. So nosey~."
She glared at him through the rearview mirror before slumping back against the seat and looking out the window. It wasn't her business but her curiosity was getting the better of her. She wanted to press some more but decided against it, maybe he'll tell her some other time? There were dark clouds off into the distance and looking some more, she can see a faint outline of buildings between the passing trees. Her eyes widened, is that the town Tuca was talking about? "I see buildings! We must be getting close."
Akai saw them, relieved. His butt was aching on the worn down seat and he just wanted to get out and stretch.
They were approaching a sign that was still readable and it displayed the town name and the old population number.
"Exit 15 - Pachester
Population: 28,000"
When Akai saw the city name, he almost jumped in his seat. Pachester?! As he looked at the distant buildings some more, they started to become familiar. Unfortunately familiar...
He ran a hand through his hair as he started to become worried but also pissed off. Of course, they were heading to Pachester, he should've known that the small town Tuca was describing was the one Akai was familiar with. How convenient for him!
This was going to be hell... he already knows it...